Dakar — Senegalese football fans are gearing up for a massive protest after 18 of their own got jailed in Morocco following the AFCON 2025 final.
Senegal beat Morocco 1–0 in extra time, but a late penalty drama led some fans to rush the pitch. Security clashed with them, and now the stadium celebration turned into a courtroom crisis.
The sentences sparked national outrage. Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko called them “way too harsh,” while President Bassirou Diomaye Faye is said to have already sent a letter to King Mohammed VI requesting a royal pardon. Senegal is hoping for clemency or at least a chance for the fans to serve their sentences back home.
Until then fans are taking it to the streets this Saturday in Dakar, showing solidarity and defending fan culture. “We cheer, we cry, we celebrate, we shouldn’t go to jail for loving football,” one organiser said.
