On July 6, 2026 in Israel, the Yakir Maccabi Award, the highest honor awarded by the Maccabi World Union (MWU) was awarded to the Chairman of Maccabi South Africa Cliff Garrun, in recognition of his many years of dedicated leadership in the Maccabi Movement and the Maccabiah. The award was presented at MWU’s “More Than a Leader” event, with Maccabi South Africa leaders publicly recognising the honour as a fitting tribute to his commitment, vision and dedication.
Kol Hakavod and Mazal Tov, Cliff!
Garrun’s recognition arrives at a meaningful moment for African Jewish sports: one where the continent’s place within the wider Maccabi world is actively taking shape, even as some of the more ambitious plans for this Sukkot look different than first anticipated.
Regular readers will recall the Sub-Saharan African Jewish Alliance’s (SAJA) earlier vision for this Sukkot: alongside the SAJA Sukkot Games, Akwa Ibom (Southern Nigeria) was set to host the formal establishment of the Maccabi African Confederation (MAC)—a new continental platform intended to organize and empower Jewish athletes across Africa and open pathways toward future Maccabiah participation. Details of this were covered in my previous article: Maccabi FC Nigeria Triumphs in Passover Friendly, Eyes SAJA Sukkot Games.
That vision remains alive, but the process is following a different, and arguably more deliberate path than originally planned. Nigeria Maccabi’s application to become a Territorial Organisation of MAC was formally submitted to the Maccabi World Union on February 4, 2026, and presented in person by Garrun at an MWU leadership conference in Israel later that month. The application was well received, and MWU’s Executive has since requested further information about Jewish practice and observance within the community as part of its standard review process.
Why the Sukkot Games and Leadership Conference Are Standing Down This Year
The SAJA Sukkot Games were conceived specifically to celebrate the formation of the Maccabi African Confederation (MAC). The planned football tournament featuring Maccabi FC Nigeria, Harachaman FC, Mehamizrach FC, and the National Youth Team was timed to coincide with the scheduled arrival of MAC coordinators in Nigeria for the grand occasion. They were expected to arrive from South Africa, Cameroon, Ghana, Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia, joining their counterparts in the host country. Most of these coordinators also serve as SAJA’s country representatives in their respective nations, which made their anticipated presence in Nigeria a natural opportunity to host a SAJA gathering as well. The proposed SAJA Leadership Conference followed that same logic: with those leaders already gathering in one place, it was a strategic opportunity to convene the rest of SAJA’s leadership team for the first time in years.
With MAC’s formation now tracking toward the MWU Conference rather than an event in Nigeria, that anticipated convergence of traveling leaders will not materialize this Sukkot—and with it, the natural occasion for both the Games and the Leadership Conference. Rather than three separate setbacks, it’s more accurate to describe the situation as one shifted timeline with three related, downstream effects.
What hasn’t changed is the Sukkot observance itself. Across the country, communities will joyfully celebrate Sukkot in their customary ways, marking the seven-day festival and observing Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah. The same for the Beth Ha’arachman Jewish community in Akwa Ibom who has marked the festival in its most traditional form, in which for over a decade, dwelling in a dedicated Sukkot village of more than 35 structured shelters. That tradition, which is now a near-permanent fixture of community life, continues this year exactly as it always has, independent of any wider SAJA or a MAC event as initially envisioned at the beginning of the year.
Football Still Finds Its Way onto the Pitch
However, even without a continental tournament this Sukkot, Jewish football in Nigeria has a busy August ahead.
Camp Sarah, the country’s Jewish summer camp now in its fourth year at Tikvat Israel Synagogue in Kubwa, Abuja, will once again welcome Maccabi FC Nigeria—who fielded a team for the first time last year, defeating Legacy FC 2:1 in what campers called a historic match. This year, Maccabi FCN will feature in two matches during the camp: the first against Independent FC on August 9 in Kubwa, followed by a second fixture on August 16. This will be the club’s first-ever back-to-back games.
At the same time, Southern Nigeria will host the National Youth Seminar, which was first held in 2019 and revived last year and is now intended to be taking place annually if funding allows. Unlike the camp friendlies, the seminar is centered on religious learning rather than sport, but this year’s edition will include its football competition, track and field events, and possibly a female volleyball debut. As usual, in the area of football, we expect to see the National Youth Team facing a team drawn from Jewish players in the host state.
Taken together, that single week in August: two Camp Sarah matches in Abuja and a youth football and female volleyball activities in the south—offers a small but telling picture of just how active Jewish sporting life in Nigeria has become, the very kind of grassroots detail the Maccabi World Union’s management have been asking to understand better as they consider the shape of a future confederation.
Building Toward a Bigger Stage
Speaking ahead of the club’s Camp Sarah fixtures, Shlomo Yaakov, the Maccabi FCN’s technical director shared his excitement about a new chapter for the team:
We’re excited to announce a formal training and temporary camping agreement with Xriso Sporting FC, which will help us train and compete more actively, the way other clubs do. This partnership is a big step for Maccabi Nigeria, and we’re grateful to African Jewish Voices, the media, and the authorized spokespersons of both clubs for their support in making this agreement happen.”
The coach also credited African Jewish Voices’ official mouthpiece representation and media coverage with playing a real role in building the club’s profile internationally—coverage that has, over time, reached readers around the world and given Maccabi FC Nigeria fans who first came to know the club through what they read online.
The club has faced some internal challenges in recent months, and there is hope that the original founding members who first conceived the idea of a “Maccabi Nigeria” will find the opportunity to meet soon, work through those matters, and set the club on solid footing going forward.
It’s also worth noting that Maccabi South Africa itself has a busy Sukkot period ahead, hosting the Maccabi Junior Games in Johannesburg over those same dates. More than 300 juniors across age groups from Under 12 to Under 18 are expected to take part in a range of sporting and cultural events. Ultimately, the situation is a reminder that, even without a joint continental gathering this year, Jewish sport across Africa remains very much in motion.
Having seen the effort and dedication Cliff Garrun continues to bring to the Maccabi Movement, there is a shared hope across the community to realign behind his vision for MAC and, in time, a full MAC tournament. With the SAJA Sukkot Games no longer on the calendar this year, attention is turning more fully toward that goal. It’s worth noting, too, why that focus matters: participation in a MAC tournament offers a genuine pathway toward future Maccabiah Games in Israel, whereas the SAJA Sukkot Games, meaningful as they would have been, never carried that same route forward. For a club and a community with eyes on the global stage, MAC remains the corridor worth building.