Dakar delights in Senegal’s AFCON victory parade to honour champs after thrilling win

Tens of thousands of Senegal football fans lined the streets of Dakar on Tuesday as the Lions of Teranga began 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 the immense crowds.

Thousands gathered at the parade’s starting point, a working-class neighbourhood called Patte d’Oie, wearing team jerseys, chanting, whistling and blowing vuvuzelas.

Old and young, men and women turned out along the route, some lining the street while others watched on from buildings or bridges.

Some fans ran alongside the bus as it slowly progressed down the highway, with spectators careening for a view, climbing on top of cars and even billboards.

Security forces were also present in large numbers.

The Senegal players are making their 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.

The parade will take the team through both working-class and upscale neighbourhoods before travelling along the capital’s iconic oceanside highway, the Corniche.

The players will then be officially received in front of the presidential palace in the late afternoon or evening.

The 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.

Far from the parade, a chorus of vuvuzelas permeated downtown Dakar on Tuesday afternoon.

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 “very, very happy”, and was personally touched by the victory which gave him a “big sense of pride to also be Senegalese”.

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 attemped ‘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.

Agencies