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Africa Kicks – on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's international news services

As Africa prepares to host the World Cup, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ goes on a journey across the continent's football 'factory' – the region in West Africa that produces the highest number of international players.

Names like Didier Drogba of the Ivory Coast, Emmanuel Adebayor of Togo, Michael Essien of Ghana and Nwankwo Kanu of Nigeria are known to fans around the world for their English Premier League and international exploits.

Africa Kicks will focus on these countries which have produced a wealth of football talent – and attract huge international business interest from across the world. Africa Kicks will explore the political, economic and football hopes, dreams and challenges of this region in a series of multimedia reports.

From Monday 31 May on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service English's flagship programmes for Africa including: Africa Have Your Say, Network Africa and Focus On Africa.

For ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service on The World Today, as well as for a range of language services – ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Afrique, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Arabic, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Hausa, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Hindi, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Persian, ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Swahili, and at bbc.com/worldcup.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service's writer in residence Hamid Ismailov will also be blogging during this journey.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service in English

In The Shadow Of The Stadium, from Friday 4 June. South African Audrey Brown goes to the area around Johannesburg's refurbished Soccer City stadium – the venue for the opening match and the final – to meet the people who are living around the stadium and are directly affected by the tournament, to find out what impact the World Cup will have on their day-to-day lives.

The Power And The Passion, a new four-part series from Monday 7 June. While many football fans around the world will be avidly debating and agonising over the fate of their nations in June, it is often at the domestic club level that the game finds its most passionate support. The Power And The Passion follows David Goldblatt as he travels to four very different football games, all big local derbies, in Italy, Egypt, Ghana and the UK, to experience the build-up and pitch action from the perspective of the fans.

South Africa's Path To Freedom, from Wednesday 9 June. Nobel Prize-winning author Wole Soyinka travels from his native Nigeria to the host country of World Cup 2010 – South Africa – to assess the past and present of the Rainbow Nation through the eyes of its finest writers.

Wole Soyinka fought apartheid from outside South Africa during the years of oppression and conflict. He now makes a special journey to meet some of the key writers who lived through the turbulent years, including fellow Nobel Prize winner Nadine Gordimer, as well as Albie Sachs, South Africa's Poet Laureate Keorapetse Kgositsile, playwright Athol Fugard and academic and writer Antjie Krog.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ World Service – non English-language Services

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Hausa will be running a series of news reports in the build-up to the tournament, examining the significance of the World Cup for African nations. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Hausa will also feature profiles on the stars to watch and will weigh up the chances of all the African teams competing in the tournament.

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Mundo will be following players from the Spanish-speaking world, who are participating in Mi Primer Mundial (My First World Cup).

³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Swahili – Mbona hawako (Why Aren't They There?) is a series of special reports from Monday 24 to Saturday 29 May, on radio, online and on mobile phones via bbcswahili.com. ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Swahili's Peter Musembi visits Kenya, Ethiopia and Democratic Republic of Congo to explore why the Eastern Africa region always has to watch from the sidelines when it comes to the World Cup, with all slots for the continent dominated by West African nations.

Countries from that region have not made any meaningful impact at the continental African Cup of Nations for the last three decades and a history of leadership wrangles has adversely affected the game there.

Peter meets veterans who represented the DRC, then known as Zaire, in the 1974 World Cup and talks to them about their experiences.