Football in Sierra Leone is played everywhere - on beaches, in school yards, in streets and in parks. Children make balls from plastic bags wound together with string when a proper ball is not available, and games can start at any time and in any space big enough to mark out two makeshift goals. The love of the game starts before children are old enough to walk to school.
The Leone Stars have competed in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which is one of the biggest football tournaments in the world. Their 2022 AFCON campaign, where they reached the group stage of the competition for the first time in decades, was a huge celebration across the whole country. Star players like Kei Kamara - a striker who has played in Major League Soccer in the United States - are national heroes.
Sierra Leonean football has a deeply community feel. Local leagues play across the country, and watching a match is a shared social occasion - people set up chairs in the street, gather around TVs in small shops, and cheer together regardless of whether they personally know any of the players. Football connects people across the whole country.