Say hello to Hannah Faleti, new editor at Bonito

In 2010, football found me. 

My dad gathered us all to watch the World Cup. It was four girls (though if I'm honest, it was really my elder sister and me who were interested in the game), a handful of cousins, and every football lover he could pull into the room. I fell for it instantly. I sang "Waka Waka" and "Wavin' Flag." I leapt up whenever a goal went in. I rooted for Nigeria with my whole heart. And somewhere in all of it, I understood something that has never left me. Football is art, a canvas of beauty. Anyone can look at it, be drawn in, and follow the story all the way to the back of the net.

From that moment, I knew I wanted to build a career in this sport. School meant I wouldn't chase the dream for another ten years. But I never stopped following the game, especially the World Cups. In 2021, I began following leagues closely and learning the rhythms of a season. The more I watched, the more I saw how much of the art lives in the moments around the goals, the build-up, the heartbreak, the comeback.

In 2025, after finishing law school, I found a new purpose. I wanted to spotlight grassroots football in Nigeria. I wanted to tell the stories of struggling footballers who dream of playing for big clubs. I was also saddened by the state of the game in my country, by its lackadaisical attitude toward this art and its readiness to dim the light of something so beautiful. So I started volunteering with clubs trying to do better. One of them is Youth Arise Football Academy, where children as young as two are coached, so they become talented footballers.

But I kept writing too, because I had realized a bigger problem. Even if those footballers reach the big clubs they always dreamed of, football as we know it is straining under fixture congestion. I explored the problem in this article published on SportandDev, highlighting how too much football is killing the art.

I didn’t stop at that. To broaden my knowledge of the game, I enrolled in two courses: Social Media in Sports with the FC Barcelona Innovation Hub, and Sports Journalism with Al Jazeera Learning. And these courses have been really enlightening. Just for fun, I also edited this video, a cinematic storytelling about FC Barcelona's dream of winning another Champions League. Be kind, it's a little rough. I am still learning the ropes.

And I have some good news. This year, I reached one of my dream goals. I now write for Zack D. Films, a hugely popular YouTuber, telling stories that reach millions of people. It is the same dream I bring to football. I want to connect and collaborate with more people, and bring my vision for the sport to as many people as possible. Stories have a way of opening doors, and they have certainly opened mine. 

So when Per Sandstrom and Jamie Elovsson approached me about writing for Bonito, saying yes was very easy. Now, as an Editor at the Bonito Foundation, I want to bring storytelling and football together. I want to show the world that there is a story in every game played, a story in the footballer hoping to play for the world one day, a story in the way the game pulls strangers into the same room and makes them family for ninety minutes, and a story in how football, played with care, can be used for good.

For me, the game has always been art. And the best part is this: At Bonito Foundation, we are only just beginning to paint it.