Africa is a Country

Egyptian midfielder Mohamed Aboutreika who lifted his jersey after scoring in an African Cup of Nations
Not that football haven’t been political. (I am from South Africa, ask me.)
We are now used to (mainly Brazilian) footballers lifting their shirt to declare their love for Jesus but that is not frowned on by referees or football’s controlling bodies. They never get red-cards for that. It is a different story though, when the slogans on the shirts gets political.
Left-wing footballers were common in the English Premier League, for example, before it was ruined by money. And some fans still recall Robbie Fowler’s courageous support for striking dock workers during a European Cup Winners Cup game when he was still at Liverpool. Afterwards he was heavily fined by UEFA, the footballing controlling body in Europe.
Some players have gone further: A few years ago Italian super club group stage match against Sudan (he wanted to highlight the humanitarian crisis in Gaza), has refocused attention on the debate about football (and sports in general) and politics. Inter Milan was approached by Mexican guerrilla movement, the Zapatistas to play a friendly match. The team’s management and players seriously entertained the request and even gave the Zapatistas money even though the match has not been arranged yet.
However, some observers view the behaviour of Inter as an exception, lamenting the absence of political footballers (see here for example), so Aboutreika’s action which resembles more that of Fowler than the Brazilian players, is therefore considered unusual.
For different takes on Aboutreika’s actions from sportswriters, see this one by Jeff Z Klein over at GOAL, the New York Times‘ soccer(ball) blog and this one by sports columnist Dave Zirin (the latter by the way contributes to Sports Illustrated and the Los Angeles Times and has weaved Africa increasingly into his coverage of US sports, see here and here).