Caught in the global dynamic of a thriving sports industry, African cities are daily invested by football fans. Young people adapt street furniture and reshape parts of the city to their will to practice. The public space appears as a resource, accompanying a process of development of bodily techniques and as many social skills. Born in the shadow of the great championships, this sports culture expresses the expectations and ambitions of a fringe of youth that thus proclaims its right to the city. But what are the stakes involved in this use of urban space by young sports groups? Based on ethnography, this work deals with the socio-spatial dimension of leisure in West Africa. The study focuses on the development of urban football in Abidjan, through the situation of informal practice in two areas of the Ivorian metropolis. It highlights forms of self-regulation and a reconfiguration of activity according to the social context