South African football fans are still feeling the sting of their World Cup exit, but the real pile-on is coming from fellow Africans online, and it has very little to do with football.
Across social media, fans from other African countries have been flooding South African posts with taunting comments and mocking reactions. The ribbing is pointed and deliberate, tied directly to long-running frustration over reports of xenophobia in South Africa toward other African nationals.
The trolling reads as a message as much as a joke. For many commenters, the World Cup loss became a convenient moment to voice genuine anger that had been building well before the tournament began.
Whether South African fans see it as harmless banter or something sharper likely depends on where you stand in that bigger conversation. Either way, the timeline is loud, and it is not quieting down any time soon.
Originally published by BBC Africa.