Cymru and Africa (pt.7) – Angola, Benin & Uganda
Part 7 in our series of blogs on the links between Cymru and members of the Confederation of African Football.
Angola
Ben Cabango’s father, Paulo, moved from Angola to London in his twenties to live with his sister. When she moved to Cardiff, Paulo followed where he met his wife. They settled in Llandaff North where Ben and brother Theo, the Cardiff rugby player, later attended Ysgol Pencae and Ysgol Gyfun Plasmawr. Paulo was also a well-known junior coach.
Ben joined the academy at Newport County before moving to Swansea’s set-up. A loan spell at The New Saints preceded almost 150 Swans appearances. First called up in 2020 by Ryan Giggs for the Nations League games against Finland and Bulgaria, Cabango made an injury time substitute appearance against the former for his first cap. Those few seconds meant he was tied to Wales and ineligible for the land of his father. A regular squad member who went to Euro 2020 and Qatar, but played at neither, Cabango has only won six further caps.
Raúl Correia – currently terrorising defences for Wythenshawe Town, Correia moved to England from his native Angola aged nine and started his career with the Nomads of Cheadle Heath rather than Connah’s Quay. His career has been nomadic ever since including spells with Bala Town and Aberystwyth Town.
Benin
Rudy Gestede – former Cardiff City striker Gestede was eligible for France through birth and the US and Benin through heritage and opted for the latter in 2013 towards the end of Cardiff’s promotion campaign to which he provided five goals. ‘The Squirrels’ were at the time top of their World Cup group ahead of Algeria, Mali and Rwanda, which they ultimately failed to qualify from. The following season Gestede dropped a tier to join Blackburn, first on loan, then permanently and where he enjoyed his most productive goalscoring spell. He won a total of 1 Benin caps (3 goals). Benin – have since changed their nickname to The Cheetahs – have reached four AFGCON finals: 2004, 2008, 2010 and 2019 but are yet to win a match in 14 attempts. They are not competing in Cote D’Ivoire.
Uganda
Uche Ikpeazu – former Cardiff City loan signing Ikpeazu was with Heart of Midlothian when he received his first call up by Uganda for a pair of 2021 AFCON qualifiers in March 2020. The games were eventually postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Ikpeazu fell out of the reckoning until he was invited to join The Cranes’ squad in April 2022. He declined the call-up preferring to fight for his place at Cardiff. Now at Port Vale Ikpeazu remains uncapped. Uganda, runners-up at AFCON 1978, are not competing in Cote D’Ivoire.
