Watching: Soccer City

Overview

Race. Class. Poverty. Faith. Hope. Soccer. Welcome to Alex––the largest and most notorious township in South Africa where soccer is lived, not played. With the first ever FIFA World Cup in Africa as a backdrop, witness the cultural importance of soccer in township South Africa through the lives of five individuals born and raised in the oldest and toughest of South Africa’s townships, Alexandra, locally known as ‘Alex.’ Seventeen-year-old dribbling sensation Nancy ‘Maradona’ Majola, former national team player Isaac ‘Shakes’ Kungwane, current professional Patrick ‘Raiden’ Phungwayo, 69-year-old Jacob ‘Babes’ Bopape one of the first professional soccer players in South Africa, and scholarship-winner Ricardo ‘Rico’ Kutumela will all take you into a culture dominated by soccer and into a storied township still largely unknown and misunderstood even among South Africans.