Do it for Me Senghor! (By Papa Alioune NDIAYE) January 18, 2026

Senegal will face Morocco, host country of this 35th edition of the African Cup of Nations (CAN), in the final, this Sunday at 7 p.m. GMT at the Prince Moulay Abdallah stadium in Rabat. A very important meeting for the two best African selections of recent years who will seek at all costs to stamp this second star on their jersey. But this final, beyond its purely sporting character, will above all have a strong geopolitical stake for these two nations. Indeed, the “Lions” of Senegal will have the heavy task of “revenging” Me Angustin Senghor against the “all-powerful” Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, who had in some way precipitated the “descent into hell” of the former Senegalese leader on the international football scene.
Defeated during the ballot of March 12, 2025 for a seat on the FIFA Council, Augustin Senghor, then president of the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF), had received only 13 votes out of 53. A snub for the man who was until then 1st vice-president of the CAF, especially since this failure marks a clear decline in Senegalese influence in continental bodies, in favor of a Morocco-Egypt-Mauritania axis from now on. well anchored at the top of African football. And for Me Senghor, this political setback had its origins in a domination organized by a group of Arab leaders, with Fouzi Lekjaa as a central figure, under the complicit gaze of the CAF. The boss of Moroccan football had also replaced the mayor of Gorée as 1st vice-president of the governing body of African football following his resignation.
This Sunday, Pape Thiaw’s men will do their utmost to honor this great man, the main instigator of the famous “Manko Wutti Ndam Li” which has brought us the improvement in Senegalese football in recent years. Because a disappointment of the “Lions” of the Atlas in front of their public, in front of Fouzi Lekjaa and in front of Patrice Motsepe, will certainly have a rather particular taste for Me Augustin Senghor. Especially since the Cherifian kingdom is the last entity in the Morocco-Egypt-Mauritania axis to have not yet suffered the wrath of the Senegal national team. I can’t wait for it to be this Sunday… in honor of Me Senghor!
Papa Alioune NDIAYE