What is a Bafana? - The wonderful world of African football nicknames
African football nicknames are a wonderful menagerie, with national sides over the years adopting monikers which reflect countries' identities, and imbue international fixtures - not least at the Africa Cup of Nations - with evocative imagery and unspoken narratives.
With the AFCON in full swing, here's ESPN's guide to the team nicknames on show at the tournament, and some of the patterns and themes to be found among the continent's subplots of sobriquets.
Of the 24 AFCON qualifiers, 17 carry nicknames related to the animal kingdom with, unsurprisingly, critters at the top of the food chain being particularly popular.
Nigeria are one of three sides nicknamed the 'eagles' at the Nations Cup, but the West African giants aren't just any old eagles. They're SUPER Eagles.
Initially, however, Nigeria didn't quite land on the correct moniker, being called the Red Devils and the Green Eagles during the early days of the national team's inception, before settling on the far more awe-inspiring Super Eagles after the 1988 Nations Cup.
Mali are also the Eagles, while Tunisia are one of several nations who couple an animal kingdom reference with a geographic location, calling themselves the Carthage Eagles. This name also harks back to the classical identity of the modern day Tunisia, a reflection of a recurrent trend among nations to attempt to recapture an historic identity as they remodel themselves in a modern world.
It's a similar story for Egypt - nicknamed the Pharaohs - who, like Tunisia, acknowledge that their history provides a strong basis for re-forging a modern national identity. The North Africans' nickname ties into the branding of Egypt on a global scale, with the influence of 'Ancient Egypt' still the country's defining
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