Senegal, the AFCON trophy and a day of defiance in Paris: ‘A people’s memory cannot be rewritten’

Two stars above the badge on the Senegal shirt, not one. A pre-match concert where an announcer shouts “We are champions of Africa!” several times. A trophy parade around the Stade de France with tens of thousands of adoring supporters watching on.

All this would seem quite normal had you switched off your TV after Senegal’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) 1-0 final win against Morocco in January and not thought about African football since. However, thanks to a statement published earlier this month, 57 days after that match, it is not so simple.

That press release from the continent’s football governing body, CAF, ruled Senegal were no longer champions due to temporarily leaving the pitch in protest at a late penalty given against them in that final. Its appeals committee declared Morocco, the tournament hosts, 3-0 winners by forfeit instead — even though the sole goal in that match was scored by Senegal in extra time.

Senegal’s government described it as an “attempt at unjustified dispossession” and called for an international inquiry. The Senegalese football federation (FSF) has taken the case to the global Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). And the team’s players, manager and fans all continue to refer to themselves as the champions.

Hence those unusual scenes of jubilation in French capital Paris on Saturday, when the west African nation played their first match since the dramatic twist in this story — a friendly against Peru as eyes turn to the World Cup in June, with much of France’s 300,000-plus Senegalese diaspora seemingly in attendance.

They had come to see their team lift the trophy, their second after a maiden AFCON victory in 2021. Senegal had teased the presentation on social media, while a lawyer representing the national football federation this week said there was “no decision” forcing them to return the cup.

So, with just over an hour to go until kick-off, the 68,000 fans in the stadium were treated to a montage on the big screens showing the trophy making its way to Paris. When the real thing finally emerged from the players’ tunnel, carried by Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly alongside the rest of the squad, the noise was deafening.

Koulibaly and company made their way to each corner of the ground, taking turns to lift their golden prize, with special appreciation reserved for head coach Pape Thiaw — the man responsible for their walk-off in Rabat. When Thiaw was asked before Saturday’s game whether he now regretted that decision, he chose instead to speak of the “pleasure” of having taken the cup back to his home country.

There was a squad photo taken with the Senegalese singer and former minister of tourism Youssou N’Dour, who accompanied their entrance. Then Koulibaly and his one-time Chelsea team-mate Edouard Mendy carried the trophy up the stairs to where a group of SFA dignitaries stood, evading the grasp of one or two fans who wanted a touch of it.

When Mendy reached the VIP seats, he held the cup aloft again with one hand, using his other to put up two fingers, for Senegal’s two AFCON titles.

It was then placed on the green, yellow and red flag of Senegal draped in front of FSF president Abdoulaye Fall. And that is where it stayed throughout the game, which Senegal won 2-0. The message to their adversaries was clear. “Come and get the cup if you want it,” Senegalese-Guinean fan Khady Mendes, 25, told The Athletic before the game.

At half-time, one man even stood guard and watched over the trophy. When the final whistle blew, he stuffed the cup into the front of his rucksack to carry it down to the players on the pitch.

Many with Senegalese allegiances refuse to acknowledge the ruling by the CAF appeals committee.

“Why should I not feel like an African champion?,” goalkeeper Mendy asked one journalist who put the question to him later in the stadium’s mixed zone. “Even you say you don’t know, because you don’t have any reason to give me.

“What you feel (not knowing why) is what everybody feels. Everybody feels that Senegal are the champions, so there is no question about it. There was a game on the field — we won it. There is another game on another field, which we cannot control, unfortunately, but these people (CAF) are not on the level. The football (played) on the pitch by the African footballers is going faster than these people in the offices.”

Mendy, 34, later posted on social media: “A people’s memory cannot be rewritten. We will continue to defend what we have earned. Not out of arrogance, but out of respect for the game. And for the truth.”

The “other field” he was referring to is the CAS office in Lausanne, Switzerland, where Senegal must wait for the outcome of their appeal to reinstate their title. The federation has also filed a corruption complaint against five individuals, although not against the Moroccan federation. CAF and Morocco have always denied any allegations of corruption.

According to Seydou Diagne, one of the lawyers representing the FSF, it could take at least seven to nine months for CAS to rule. His team plan to ask for an “accelerated procedure”, although this also requires the agreement of CAF and Morocco.

That means Senegal will almost certainly travel to the World Cup being co-hosted by the United States, Canada and Mexico with the saga still hanging over them.

On the basis of yesterday’s accomplished performance without some of their main stars — none of Mendy, Koulibaly or star forward Sadio Mane played against Peru, with Nicolas Jackson and Ismaila Sarr scoring the goals — they could prove tough for France and Norway, their confirmed Group I opponents, and the winner of the inter-confederation play-off final on Tuesday between Iraq and Bolivia.

But it is hard to believe Thiaw’s side will not discuss the matter anymore among themselves, as midfielder Lamine Camara told reporters after the match.

Speaking to the press earlier this week, the former Liverpool and Senegal forward El Hadji Diouf, now an ambassador for the national team, had a suggestion for how a win at CAS should be commemorated: give them a third star on their shirts.

Many Senegalese fans would settle for remembering their second.

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