Tens of thousands of Senegal football fans lined the streets of Dakar on Tuesday as the Lions of Teranga held a victory parade to celebrate their triumph in the Africa Cup of Nations final against Morocco.
The players and coaches brandished their trophy from an open-top bus which inched its way through immense crowds across the capital, winding towards the country’s presidential palace.
As the players travelled the final stretch of their journey along the city’s oceanside highway, the Corniche, fans walked and sometimes ran alongside the bus, with throngs of people lining the sidewalks.
Downtown was overcome by a fever pitch of almost deafening noise — revving engines, horns, vuvuzelas and shouting — as the players neared the palace, where they will be officially received.
In the morning, thousands had gathered at the parade’s starting point in Patte d’Oie, a working-class neighbourhood across town, wearing team jerseys, chanting, whistling and blowing vuvuzelas.
All along the route old and young, men and women turned out decked in the country’s green, yellow and red colours, sometimes watching on from buildings and bridges, or even climbing on top of cars and billboards.
Security forces were also present in large numbers, including anti-riot police.
The Senegal team made its way across the capital after arriving on a special flight from Morocco shortly before midnight on Monday, where they were greeted by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye, Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and other members of the government.
Senegal won the Africa Cup of Nations when they beat hosts Morocco 1-0 in a chaotic final in Rabat on Sunday that saw the eventual champions storm off the pitch late in the game.
“I wouldn’t have missed this moment for the world,” 26-year-old fan Doudou Thiam told AFP from the parade’s sidelines in the Bourguiba neighbourhood, wearing a Senegal jersey.
“The Lions are our pride and they deserve all the honours. Even if it meant staying here all day, I would have done it”, he said.
Din of victory
A ruckus of whistles and horns has been almost constant since Senegal’s victory on Sunday night, when fans flooded the streets, filling the air with honking, fireworks and the deafening roar of vuvuzelas.
The win marked Senegal’s second title, after their 2022 victory over Egypt in Cameroon. It was the team’s third final in just the last four editions.
Hortense Kenny brought her five-year-old child to Patte d’Oie to watch the parade.
“The Lions made an entire nation proud, beating the host country in those circumstances,” she told AFP, referring to the end of the match.
“Now, all that’s left is to win the World Cup. With Sadio Mane, anything is possible,” she said, referencing the team’s biggest star.
His role as peacemaker during the final — he was the one who stayed on the pitch and persuaded his teammates to return — has been widely praised.
Nearby Abdulai Sy, a 49-year-old, told AFP he felt personally touched by the victory which gave him a “big sense of pride to also be Senegalese”.
Controversial win
Tuesday’s crowd seemed unphased by a cloud of controversy surrounding their team’s decision to storm off the pitch late in normal time in protest at a penalty awarded to Morocco.
Prompted by Mane, they returned to the pitch and an attempted ‘Panenka’ penalty from Morocco’s Brahim Diaz was easily saved by Senegal’s goalkeeper before Pape Gueye won the game with a superb shot in extra time that stunned the Moroccan crowd.
The Moroccan FA said it had referred the incidents, including protests from Senegal players and fans, to the Confederation of African Football and FIFA.
Far from Morocco, football’s lucrative business side had trickled down even to the streets of Dakar on Tuesday.
Amath Ndiaye, a 36-year-old street vendor who usually sells tissues, told AFP he has switched to hawking jerseys, flags, vuvuzelas and whistles for the duration of Afcon and the celebratory aftermath.
On Tuesday, he was basking in the wisdom of his decision.
“I’m doing well,” he told AFP from Patte d’Oie, near the joyous crowd decked out in patriotic Senegalese gear and waving flags.
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