Steff Ndei
@steffndei.bsky.social
Writer/Author. PhD candidate at Heriot-Watt University.
Interests: Media, Sports governance and Social Justice in Africa.
Man Utd fan.
Interests: Media, Sports governance and Social Justice in Africa.
Man Utd fan.
Pinned
Steff Ndei
@steffndei.bsky.social
· Apr 18
🧵 This poster tells us a lot about the relationship between corporates and the local football industry in Kenya. Winners of this tournament win 30,000ksh (approx $230) and runners up win 20,00ksh which is approx $155. To participate in the 5x5 tournament, players have to subscribe to... 1/10
FIFA is to Saudi what CAF is to China: the middleman that turns infrastructure into geopolitical leverage.
inside.fifa.com/organisation...
inside.fifa.com/organisation...
Saudi Fund for Development and FIFA join forces to provide financial support for sports infrastructure in developing nations
Unlocking the potential of sports to drive economic and social development, the Saudi Fund for Development (SFD) and FIFA have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to allocate up to USD 1 billio...
inside.fifa.com
November 24, 2025 at 6:22 PM
FIFA is to Saudi what CAF is to China: the middleman that turns infrastructure into geopolitical leverage.
inside.fifa.com/organisation...
inside.fifa.com/organisation...
Of all the things to write about in yesterday’s game, the amplification of this narrative is indicative of how African football gets dragged back into anthropology whenever structural questions demand attention.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/681...
www.nytimes.com/athletic/681...
Nigeria coach Chelle alleges DR Congo players practiced 'voodoo' during penalty shootout
www.nytimes.com
November 17, 2025 at 11:58 AM
Of all the things to write about in yesterday’s game, the amplification of this narrative is indicative of how African football gets dragged back into anthropology whenever structural questions demand attention.
www.nytimes.com/athletic/681...
www.nytimes.com/athletic/681...
FIFA operates under two fundamentally different logics
(a) Sporting Logic: The product FIFA sells (World Cups) is defined by elite competition.
(b) Governance Logic (democracy):
where FIFA Congress uses one-member–one-vote.
But these two logics are incompatible within a single institution.
(a) Sporting Logic: The product FIFA sells (World Cups) is defined by elite competition.
(b) Governance Logic (democracy):
where FIFA Congress uses one-member–one-vote.
But these two logics are incompatible within a single institution.
November 16, 2025 at 12:47 AM
FIFA operates under two fundamentally different logics
(a) Sporting Logic: The product FIFA sells (World Cups) is defined by elite competition.
(b) Governance Logic (democracy):
where FIFA Congress uses one-member–one-vote.
But these two logics are incompatible within a single institution.
(a) Sporting Logic: The product FIFA sells (World Cups) is defined by elite competition.
(b) Governance Logic (democracy):
where FIFA Congress uses one-member–one-vote.
But these two logics are incompatible within a single institution.
The new expanded World Cup should make FIFA’s failures visible. UEFA is still the system’s centre of gravity so much so that even Africa scouts its national teams from there. The teams entering the World Cup without that advantage, and without real domestic development, will struggle.
November 15, 2025 at 12:25 PM
The new expanded World Cup should make FIFA’s failures visible. UEFA is still the system’s centre of gravity so much so that even Africa scouts its national teams from there. The teams entering the World Cup without that advantage, and without real domestic development, will struggle.
The same way they use marijuana and psilocybin to tame their demons while desecrating them as indigenous heresy is exactly how I have Ecclesiastes tattooed on my wrist to weather life’s blows, while questioning the faith that birthed it. We all borrow from what we despise.
November 11, 2025 at 9:41 PM
The same way they use marijuana and psilocybin to tame their demons while desecrating them as indigenous heresy is exactly how I have Ecclesiastes tattooed on my wrist to weather life’s blows, while questioning the faith that birthed it. We all borrow from what we despise.
"Enforcers of orthodoxy can't allow a borderline idea to exist, because that gives other enforcers an opportunity to one-up them in the moral purity department, and perhaps even to turn enforcer upon them."
paulgraham.com/conformism.h...
paulgraham.com/conformism.h...
The Four Quadrants of Conformism
paulgraham.com
November 10, 2025 at 10:42 AM
"Enforcers of orthodoxy can't allow a borderline idea to exist, because that gives other enforcers an opportunity to one-up them in the moral purity department, and perhaps even to turn enforcer upon them."
paulgraham.com/conformism.h...
paulgraham.com/conformism.h...
Doku will be as essential to City this season as Salah was to Liverpool last season. What a baller.
November 9, 2025 at 6:38 PM
Doku will be as essential to City this season as Salah was to Liverpool last season. What a baller.
Reposted by Steff Ndei
#EastAfrica’s big football moment is approaching – but at what cost? Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are spending over $700m on Africa Cup of Nations 2027 stadiums. Some look more like vanity projects than lasting investments in the region’s sporting future. #AfCoN
africa-conf.com/expensive-dr...
africa-conf.com/expensive-dr...
Fields of expensive dreams
, When Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda were appointed co-hosts of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, the move was hailed as a welcome shot in the arm for three of Africa’s unlikely football minnows – none of…
africa-conf.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:00 PM
#EastAfrica’s big football moment is approaching – but at what cost? Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda are spending over $700m on Africa Cup of Nations 2027 stadiums. Some look more like vanity projects than lasting investments in the region’s sporting future. #AfCoN
africa-conf.com/expensive-dr...
africa-conf.com/expensive-dr...
Reposted by Steff Ndei
Eerie calm, digital blackouts and deadly force: #Tanzania’s election unfolded under a cloud of fear. Leaked footage and eyewitness accounts point to ballot-stuffing on an industrial scale.
africa-conf.com/cloud-of-blood
africa-conf.com/cloud-of-blood
Cloud of blood and doubt hangs over Hassan’s victory
Marked by eerie calm and deadly force, the vote unfolded under an internet shutdown – amid fear and fraud
africa-conf.com
November 7, 2025 at 1:31 PM
Eerie calm, digital blackouts and deadly force: #Tanzania’s election unfolded under a cloud of fear. Leaked footage and eyewitness accounts point to ballot-stuffing on an industrial scale.
africa-conf.com/cloud-of-blood
africa-conf.com/cloud-of-blood
Fifa forward money.
if mamdani can become mayor of new york city, what’s stopping my fifa presidency?
November 6, 2025 at 8:08 PM
Fifa forward money.
Samia‘s 97% victory in Tanzania’s election was shaped as much by repression as by resource mobilisation. Weeks before the vote, Yanga SC, one of the country’s biggest football club, donated US$ 40,000 to Samia’s party campaign fund. Its sponsor pledged US$ 4 million. www.reuters.com/world/africa...
Tanzania's President Hassan takes office after deadly election violence
Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan vowed on Monday to move on from deadly protests set off by last week's disputed election as she was sworn into office for her first elected term.
www.reuters.com
November 6, 2025 at 6:29 PM
Samia‘s 97% victory in Tanzania’s election was shaped as much by repression as by resource mobilisation. Weeks before the vote, Yanga SC, one of the country’s biggest football club, donated US$ 40,000 to Samia’s party campaign fund. Its sponsor pledged US$ 4 million. www.reuters.com/world/africa...
tiktok ni kama mtaniona end of this month wadau. Nimelock in alafu pia nimetekwa na mapenzi 😂
November 6, 2025 at 11:28 AM
tiktok ni kama mtaniona end of this month wadau. Nimelock in alafu pia nimetekwa na mapenzi 😂
Reposted by Steff Ndei
The FIFA Council, its governing board, were not given a say over this peace award. It is purely a Gianni Infantino innovation and he will decide who gets it. Amazing how a decade after a major corruption scandal nearly ended FIFA, this is how FIFA runs now. Such a concentration of power.
November 5, 2025 at 10:29 PM
The FIFA Council, its governing board, were not given a say over this peace award. It is purely a Gianni Infantino innovation and he will decide who gets it. Amazing how a decade after a major corruption scandal nearly ended FIFA, this is how FIFA runs now. Such a concentration of power.
Interesting how sport governing bodies are now the institutions with moral legitimacy, despite not operating on moral terms at all. Their operational logic is political and economic. Paradoxically, appealing to their moral conscience enables them.
Infantino will present Fifa's "Peace Prize" on 5 December, the day of the 2026 World Cup draw.
In Washington D.C.
We're all thinking the same thing, yes? Surely he couldn't? Oh yes he could.
inside.fifa.com/organisation...
In Washington D.C.
We're all thinking the same thing, yes? Surely he couldn't? Oh yes he could.
inside.fifa.com/organisation...
FIFA introduces the FIFA Peace Prize - an award to recognise exceptional actions for peace and unity
FIFA has announced the introduction of the “FIFA Peace Prize – Football Unites the World” to reward individuals who have taken exceptional and extraordinary actions for peace and by doing so have unit...
inside.fifa.com
November 5, 2025 at 5:05 PM
Interesting how sport governing bodies are now the institutions with moral legitimacy, despite not operating on moral terms at all. Their operational logic is political and economic. Paradoxically, appealing to their moral conscience enables them.
I went on TikTok live and managed to get some Kenyans to sign up for this app, plus I was able to talk about the issues I write about and managed to change people’s minds (even though not many!) I haven’t resolved my gripes with social media but that experience got me thinking!
October 28, 2025 at 9:32 PM
I went on TikTok live and managed to get some Kenyans to sign up for this app, plus I was able to talk about the issues I write about and managed to change people’s minds (even though not many!) I haven’t resolved my gripes with social media but that experience got me thinking!
“The Labour Party is like the Democratic Party: It stands for nothing … All these centrist-type parties that once had some attachment to the working classes of their country are in trouble…” www.thenation.com/article/poli...
People Are Furious With Democrats. Bernie Sanders Knows Why.
Democratic Party leadership is way out of touch with where the American people are, and it’s almost frightening to see the kind of anger and contempt that people feel toward it.
www.thenation.com
October 22, 2025 at 10:45 PM
“The Labour Party is like the Democratic Party: It stands for nothing … All these centrist-type parties that once had some attachment to the working classes of their country are in trouble…” www.thenation.com/article/poli...
Reposted by Steff Ndei
This is very bleak for institutional science, but as someone on the job market this cycle, I think it is kind of a blessing in disguise for people who were considering applying to PhD programs next cycle... The academic jobs just don't really exist anymore
October 21, 2025 at 5:43 PM
This is very bleak for institutional science, but as someone on the job market this cycle, I think it is kind of a blessing in disguise for people who were considering applying to PhD programs next cycle... The academic jobs just don't really exist anymore
Reposted by Steff Ndei
"Ivory Coast’s communication ministry put up the billboards—with the slogan 'Fake news divides, truth unites'—ahead of polls next week at which 83-year-old President Alassane Ouattara, who has been in power since 2011, is running for a controversial fourth term."
Sometimes the truth divides, too.
Sometimes the truth divides, too.
Ivory Coast warns citizens over surge in election disinformation
Authorities have linked fake stories to accounts in nearby countries run by Russia-aligned military juntas
www.ft.com
October 20, 2025 at 1:39 PM
"Ivory Coast’s communication ministry put up the billboards—with the slogan 'Fake news divides, truth unites'—ahead of polls next week at which 83-year-old President Alassane Ouattara, who has been in power since 2011, is running for a controversial fourth term."
Sometimes the truth divides, too.
Sometimes the truth divides, too.
Morocco won the U20 World Cup, a feat which will be attributed to the infrastructure investment in the country. Yet in the final match, 8 of the 15 players who took to the pitch were born and developed in Europe. This, in a country where youth unemployment has risen to 37.7%.
October 20, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Morocco won the U20 World Cup, a feat which will be attributed to the infrastructure investment in the country. Yet in the final match, 8 of the 15 players who took to the pitch were born and developed in Europe. This, in a country where youth unemployment has risen to 37.7%.
Arne Slot is not having a rough period in the season, he is being caught out.
The overall quality of football in the EPL this season has taken a hit. Which is why this Liverpool team, unlike Liverpool 2017/18 isn’t infallible. It’s not that they’re having a bad game, this has been their typical style of play.
October 19, 2025 at 5:42 PM
Arne Slot is not having a rough period in the season, he is being caught out.
Kenya has lost a giant in its democracy. Every major democratic inflection point in Kenya — the re-legalisation of multi-party politics in the 1990s, the constitutional overhaul of 2010, and the recurring negotiation of electoral crises — bears Raila Odinga’s imprint.
October 15, 2025 at 12:33 PM
Kenya has lost a giant in its democracy. Every major democratic inflection point in Kenya — the re-legalisation of multi-party politics in the 1990s, the constitutional overhaul of 2010, and the recurring negotiation of electoral crises — bears Raila Odinga’s imprint.
”African leaders will have to embrace business, growth and free markets. They will need to unleash a capitalist revolution.”
The capitalist revolution Africa needs.
economist.com/leaders/2025...
The capitalist revolution Africa needs.
economist.com/leaders/2025...
The capitalist revolution Africa needs
The world’s poorest continent should embrace its least fashionable idea
economist.com
October 14, 2025 at 12:13 PM
”African leaders will have to embrace business, growth and free markets. They will need to unleash a capitalist revolution.”
The capitalist revolution Africa needs.
economist.com/leaders/2025...
The capitalist revolution Africa needs.
economist.com/leaders/2025...
I think Gianni thinks he is the pope.
October 14, 2025 at 11:22 AM
I think Gianni thinks he is the pope.
Given how much rent seeking CAF is doing from African countries, of course they will return to profits.
www.cafonline.com/news/caf-ret...
www.cafonline.com/news/caf-ret...
CAF Returns to Profitability amid strong Financial Growth and increased Investment in Football under President Dr Patrice Motsepe
The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”), under the leadership of President Dr Patrice Motsepe, has announced a return to profitability, reversing several years of financial deficits and achiev...
www.cafonline.com
October 14, 2025 at 11:20 AM
Given how much rent seeking CAF is doing from African countries, of course they will return to profits.
www.cafonline.com/news/caf-ret...
www.cafonline.com/news/caf-ret...
Reposted by Steff Ndei
not available on this app : most of Africa, Asia and Latin America
very available on this app : people virtuously instructing other people Already. Using. This. App. that everyone should use this app
very available on this app : people virtuously instructing other people Already. Using. This. App. that everyone should use this app
What the Twitter takeover did so effectively was fracture the way we get our news. If, for example, I want to get in-depth updates on Sudan I still check in with Twitter as that's where a lot of the biggest accounts are. There's no one-stop shop anymore.
October 13, 2025 at 8:40 AM
not available on this app : most of Africa, Asia and Latin America
very available on this app : people virtuously instructing other people Already. Using. This. App. that everyone should use this app
very available on this app : people virtuously instructing other people Already. Using. This. App. that everyone should use this app