This symposium examines African derbies from a renewed perspective offered by the social sciences and humanities of politics. From Cairo to Soweto, via Yaoundé, Casablanca, Accra, Dar Es Salaam and Algiers, the rivalries between African clubs, rooted in time and space, can legitimately be the subject of renewed scientific discourse similar to that produced on other European, American or Asian derbies, in an era of global sportocracy that is expanding and deepening football (Aubin, 2024).
A three-pronged scientific effort is indeed presiding over this heuristic renewal around African derbies. First, to break with the dominant literature that favors the study of African fan culture focused on European clubs, to the detriment of local and continental rivalries (Chiweshe et al., 2025). Secondly, it goes beyond methodological nationalism (Schakel, 2013), which focuses the analysis of African football on national teams, by rehabilitating the central role of clubs in the production of loyalties, divisions and politicization (Njororai, 2024). Finally, the Africanist reception of African derbies considers the logic behind the establishment and entrenchment of these rivalries at several urban, regional and national levels in Africa.To achieve this, proposals for papers may fall within the following areas:
Axis 1: Theoretical and methodological approaches
- What theories and epistemologies can be used to analyze African derbies?
- To what extent do African derbies enrich or challenge existing theories on sport and politics?
Axis 2: Geographical and historical trajectories
- What are the historical origins of African derbies?
- What are the dynamics and changes involved?
- What are the scales and geographies of these sporting rivalries between clubs? What are the fan cultures involved and how do they relate to other fan cultures?
Axis 3: Identities, mobilizations and fan cultures:
- What types of fan cultures emerge around African derbies?
- How do they relate to social, ethnic, religious, generational or class identities?
- How do they interact with other forms of fan culture, whether local or transnational?
Axis 4: Politicization and political economies of derbies
- How are African derbies politically exploited by state, institutional and partisan actors?
- Are there specific political economies of derbies (financing, sponsorship, security, informality)?
Axis 5: Media coverage and transnational circulation
- How are African derbies covered locally, nationally and internationally?
- What role do the media, social networks and digital platforms play in the reconfiguration of these rivalries?
Axis 6: Gender, women and African derbies
- What place do women occupy in African derbies (supporters, managers, journalists, players, traders, activists, security agents, etc.)?
- How do women engage with derby spaces (stadiums, neighborhoods, media, social networks)?
- Do African derbies reinforce or challenge gender norms and hegemonic masculinities?
- What forms of violence (symbolic, verbal, physical, sexual) affect women in these contexts?
- What role do women play in the formal and informal economies of derbies?
- How are women’s derbies (women’s clubs, women’s competitions) constructed, mediatized and politicized?
Axis 7: Comparisons
- Can African derbies be compared with each other?
- What do South-South or South-North comparisons bring to the analysis of sporting rivalries?
Proposals for papers in French or English should be sent in the form of a 300-400 words abstract to : jean-michel.de.waele@ulb.be and yvanissekin@yahoo.fr.
Proposals must be submitted by 1 August 2026. Successful applicants will be notified by 17 August. Publication in an international journal and/or a book is planned.
Organized by the University of Burundi, the Official University of Bukavu, the University of Yaoundé 2, Université Libre de Bruxelles, Babes-Bolyai University (Cluj-Napoca)
