On February 7, 2022, hundreds of thousands of Senegalese took to the streets of Dakar to celebrate a historic event.
The day before, the national men's football team had won the African Cup of Nations (CAN) for the first time in its history. Sadio Mane and his teammates were crowned winners after a thrilling 4-2 penalty shootout victory over Egypt after a 0-0 stalemate in regulation time.
Pour fêter ce titre, le premier d’une grande compétition internationale pour les Lions de la Terranga , le 7 février a été déclaré « jour férié payé » par Macky Sall, le président du pays. Cette décision est un exemple de l’importance du football au Sénégal.
“It was beautiful, it was magical. When we got off the plane, we couldn’t go out or move because of all the Senegalese people outside. They were proud of us, but we were also proud of them. We said to ourselves that this must not stop. The Senegalese people deserve a trophy in every competition,” recalled Cheikhou Kouyate , a Senegalese player from Nottingham Forest who was part of the winning team, looking back on the procession that took the eight hours to travel from the airport to the presidential palace.
A few weeks later, the crowd was also there for the country's final qualifying match for the 2022 FIFA World Cup, but it could have been even bigger, according to national coach Aliou Cisse. After his team once again beat Mo Salah's Egypt, he dedicated the victory and qualification to the Senegalese people.
"If the Diamniadio stadium had a capacity of 16 million, the whole country would have come to the match," the former player told World . Monde .
The most devoted fans arrived at the stadium ten hours before the crucial match kicked off. But Senegal, hosts of the Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games, had become a football cult long before that moment.
Three years after independence, Senegal hosts the Friendship Games
In 2019, Mané's teammates were beaten by Algeria (0-1) in the CAN final. Despite this setback, the crowd invaded the streets of Dakar to welcome the continental vice-champions.
And it was not the first time. Sport, and football in particular, has always been popular in Senegal.
In 1963, three years after the country gained independence, Senegal hosted the Friendship Games. In this multi-sport competition, the forerunner of the African Games, Senegal won the football tournament. The opening ceremony took place at the Stade de l'Amitié, with 40,000 spectators gathered there, despite a capacity of only 20,000.
The national football team, formed just months after independence, began its incredible journey with two continental semi-finals in the 20th century (1965 and 1990) and the country hosted the CAN in 1992. At that time, Senegal's biggest stars were Roger Mendy and Jules Bocandé .
Ten years later, Senegal reached the final of the AFCON for the first time in its history. This progression allowed the country to enter the top 20 of the FIFA rankings at the start of 2022 – the first African nation to do so in four years.
They hope to go even further at the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Sadio Mane: From Senegal to some of the biggest clubs in the world
Although a traditional form of wrestling is the national sport, football is also extremely popular in Senegal with many children playing the sport in Dakar and other cities.
Even on the island of Gorée, which is less than a square kilometer, there is a football field where tournaments are organized. And despite the enormous baobab, the sacred tree of Senegal, which stands on the field, everyone plays football there with real passion.
"It's a way of mixing generations. Every Sunday, we see the old players playing against the young players. It's something you don't often see in other stadiums or in other countries. It's important for the sociological balance of the island," said Augustin Senghor, the mayor of Gorée in a documentary from Canal+ on this very special stage. de Canal+ sur ce stade très particulier.
Nothing can tarnish the Senegalese people's love for football. And this love only grows when they see Senegalese footballers transferred to some of the biggest clubs in the world.
This is the case of Mane, who played in London 2012 Olympic Games and finished 2nd in the 2022 Ballon d'Or rankings. The forward played for Liverpool, winning the English Premier League and UEFA Champions League titles, before joining Bayern Munich in the German Bundesliga. He has been voted African Football Player of the Year twice. Before him, only one other Senegalese player had won this prestigious accolade: El-Hadji Diouf .
The first golden generation of Senegalese footballers in 2002
Diouf also played for Liverpool and is the face of another golden generation of the Lions of Terranga. In 2002, Senegal took part in the World Cup for the first time and made history.
Papa Bouba Diop scored the goal that beat reigning world champions France in the opening match (1-0), and the Senegalese went on to reach the quarter-finals, remaining unbeaten against Denmark (1-1) and Uruguay (3-3) and then eliminating Sweden (2-1) in the round of 16. Their incredible story finally ended in added time of the quarter-final against Turkey where they lost 1-2.
In the history of the World Cup, only one African nation had reached the quarter-finals before: Cameroon in 1990.
Senegal’s performance introduced the world to the country’s passion for football, so it was no surprise in 2022 when an entire country celebrated their national team’s performance as one. Kouyate perhaps summed up the special relationship between the national team and its fans.
"The national team belongs to the Senegalese people. To all Senegalese people.
