The World Cup isn’t just about football. It’s about the characters who make every match unforgettable. From the friend who supports one player instead of a country to the serial hate watcher celebrating another team’s defeat, here are five fan personalities you’ll definitely encounter during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Fair warning: you might recognise yourself.

Football’s biggest party has officially begun. The 2026 FIFA World Cup will kick off today in the Americas, and if you have not been paying attention to the build-up, this is your complete catch-up on what makes this edition genuinely historic, who Africa is sending, and what the full schedule looks like from group stage to final.

Nigeria’s rich cultural heritage will take centre stage again as the fifth edition of the Ecobank Adire Lagos Experience opens its doors in Lagos. From today, June 11 to 14, the Ecobank Pan African Centre (EPAC) in Victoria Island will transform into a vibrant marketplace where fashion, art, food, music, and entrepreneurship intersect.

Artificial intelligence is no longer a futuristic concept reserved for Silicon Valley. Across Africa, it is powering fraud detection, improving digital lending, personalising banking services, and helping financial institutions make faster decisions. From mobile money to fintech apps, AI is quietly changing how millions of Africans save, spend, borrow, and invest. Here’s what that transformation means for consumers and businesses alike.

Victoria Esinam Attipoe’s story is one of the clearest examples of what consistent, patient, and deliberate career-building actually looks like across a lifetime of work. From starting out as a hotel receptionist to becoming Division Head at Universal Merchant Bank, Ghana, Victoria Esinam Attipoe’s story is one worth telling.

Serena Williams is back, and she’s winning. The 23-time Grand Slam champion made a successful return to professional tennis after nearly four years away, teaming up with Victoria Mboko to claim a straight-sets victory at Queen’s Club. At 44, the American legend says she’s playing for the joy of the game and for her daughters to see her compete.

Every year, a handful of reports remind the global investment community that Africa is not a single market with a single story. Bloomberg’s 2026 edition of its African Startups to Watch list, its second, is one of the more useful ones.

Lagos is making a strong case for global investment. At the Invest Lagos 3.0 Summit, government leaders and the Commonwealth highlighted the city’s growing role in trade, technology and finance, with a shared vision of turning Lagos into Africa’s leading investment hub.

Nigeria has a new queen. Tamunosoye Karibi-George claimed the Miss World Nigeria 2026 crown after an impressive performance at the national pageant in Lagos. Beyond the glamour, the 26-year-old advocate is preparing to represent the country on the global stage in Vietnam while promoting inclusion for children with special needs through her Beyond Labels initiative.

Sunny Dolat wrote a book called Not African Enough after a Kenyan designer was told her work was not colourful enough to be African. That was 2016. Since then, he has co-curated the landmark Africa Fashion exhibition at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, helped build Heva Fund and landed on the BoF 500 list of people shaping global fashion.