The euphoria surrounding South Africa's recent Nations Cup triumph can't disguise the problems afflicting football on the African continent, as John Sugden and Alan Tomlinson report

Behind the mask of success, African football is in a  state of chaos. Take Cameroon, for instance, a country which came within a bad tackle of knocking England out in Italia 90. Prior to the Finals the squad had gathered at a training camp in the then Yugoslavia. According to Joseph Antoine Bell, a goalkeeper in the squad for the last two World Cup campaigns, they only had eight footballs to practice with, “and only one ball was any good . . .”. The team doctor and trainer had no medical gear and the players had to have a collection to buy bandages and other essentials.

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Osasu Obayiuwana surveys some of the pitfalls that lie in wait for African players hoping to pursue careers in Europe

Top quality African players are appearing in Europe in increasing numbers but amongst all the success stories, like George Weah and Finidi George, are just as many tales of hardship, of players whose naïvete on financial issues has been taken advantage of by rapacious clubs or business managers.

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Mick Slatter looks back at one of Liberia's greatest ever role models

George Oppong Weah is a disarmingly nice guy. He may have bagged the hat-trick of African, European and World Footballer of The Year, yet remains humble. He still has a common touch, passes on much of his sizable earnings and still allows journalists to get closer to him than most Serie A sweepers.

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Shotts Bon Accord of the Scottish Juniors are the latest club to be embroiled in legal intrigue. Graham McColl takes up their case

On paper, Scottish Junior club Shotts Bon Accord should be one of the contenders for this season’s Junior Cup. But that’s where their chances of winning the Juniors’ premier tournament will remain – on paper. A plot that looks as though John Le Carré and the Monty Python team have put their heads together has led to the club being taken out of service for the 1995-96 season.

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Doug Stenhouse explains why Berwick Rangers, rescued from the brink of oblivion, have more reason than most to be thankful to their supporters' club

You might know Berwick Rangers as the only English team in the Scottish League. You might even know that through a quirk of history, the town of Berwick was left out of the peace treaty at the end of the Crimean War, so Berwick was technically at war with Russia for over 100 years. You probably do not know that Shielfield Park, Berwick Rangers’ ground is owned by their supporters, a unique situation brought about by a tale so bizarre even the script writers of Baywatch would have found it too far-fetched.

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