Many teams have fans abroad, but the bond between the north London club and ordinary Africans is on a different level. A continent expectsIf Arsenal win the Champions League final later today, expect euphoria across Africa. Judging by the scenes after last week’s Premier League title win – their first in 22 years – the celebrations will be immense. Boisterous fans flooded city centres in Nairobi, Addis Ababa, Kampala and Lagos. In Nigeria’s Zamfara state, people celebrated in the streets despite rising insecurity as a result of Boko Haram’s terrorism.For outsiders, the obvious question is: how did a club from north London become so deeply woven into African popular culture?Sean Henry Jacobs is the founder of Africa Is a Country and edits the Eleven Named People newsletter Continue reading...

Source: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/may/30/arsenal-champions-league-final-paris-saint-germain-africa