Sport, culture and Pan-African connections through a gathering of football legends and cultural figures.
Sport can bring people together, open doors and create connections that reach beyond the pitch.
In June 2024, the Shenen Africa Festival in Ethiopia brought together African football legends and cultural figures to celebrate sport and strengthen connections across the continent.
The football legends associated with the festival included Nigerian internationals Nwankwo Kanu, Daniel Amokachi and Taribo West, alongside Senegalese football star Henri Camara. Festival activities also included engagement with Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and a friendly football match.
Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed’s involvement is a key part of this story. Ethiopia’s state news agency reported that he met African football legends attending the Shenen Africa Festival on June 28, 2024, and played in a friendly match with them on June 30. The photographs here document moments from the visit and its football and Green Legacy activities. Ethiopian News Agency: meeting with former African footballers · Ethiopian News Agency: friendly match and Green Legacy activity.
Contemporary reporting by the Ethiopian News Agency documented the Shenen Africa Festival and the Prime Minister’s meeting with former African footballers. These reports provide independent context for the photographs and story above.
ENA reported that Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed and Deputy Prime Minister Temesgen Tiruneh met former African footballers and other cultural figures who had arrived to participate in the Shenen Africa Festival.
ENA reported on the festival’s inauguration by Ethiopia’s Minister of Tourism and Minister of Culture and Sport, and noted the participation of Nwankwo Kanu and other former African football players.
The festival showed how sport can create a meeting point for culture, international relationships and shared ambition. Experiences like these reflect the wider potential of sports initiatives to connect people and institutions across borders.
This story is part of the wider international sports context connected with Shenen and the values that inform Shenen Sports: collaboration, opportunity and the power of sport to bring people together.
Photographs from the football gathering and related activities show the event beyond the headline moment.
