Africa's Love of Soccer - Jessica Hilltout

By touting its approximately 250 million athletes and fan base of over 1 billion people, soccer is hands-down the world’s most popular sport. Photographer Jessica Hilltout decided to learn about the sport’s cultural influence by travelling away from the brightly-lit stadiums and manicured fields and into the rural areas and villages of west Africa. Her 12,500-mile journey between the Ivory Coast and South Africa brought her face-to-face with some of soccer's biggest fans: children who fashion soccer balls out of cloth, twine, plastic bags – anything lying around – in order to play the sport they love so much. Photographs from Hilltout’s trip can be found in the National Geographic Magazine article "Soccer Joy".