Tens of thousands of jubilant fans lined the streets of Dakar on Monday as Senegal's football team returned home after winning the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time. President Macky Sall was among those greeting the squad at the airport, where the players were met with ecstatic cheers and a sea of national flags.
Coach Aliou Cissé raised the trophy from the roof of the team's victory bus, sparking roars of delight from the crowd. "It's a street party. I don't think Senegal has ever seen anything like it," reported the BBC.
The celebrations began immediately after Sunday's final, when Liverpool's Sadio Mané scored the decisive penalty to seal a 4-2 shootout win over Egypt. People poured onto the streets, dancing and setting off fireworks, prompting the authorities to declare Monday a national holiday.
In Paris, thousands of Senegalese supporters gathered at the Arc de Triomphe to celebrate. Mané later shared a photo of himself in bed with the trophy, wearing a winners' medal.
President Sall, who cut short a foreign tour to host an official reception on Tuesday, tweeted: "What a game! What a team! You did it. Beautiful moment of football, beautiful moment of communion and national pride." The victory ended a 60-year wait for Senegal, who had lost two previous finals in 2002 and 2019.
