⚽ Football: Senegal 'walk off' with AFCON 2025

⚽ Football - AFCON 2025 summary post from Gianni Infantino’s official Instagram account

Here is the entire text of the post, verbatim from the official Instagram account of FIFA president Gianni Infantino, with specific words and phrases highlighted for semiotic analysis below:

1️⃣ What is happening?

The Africa Cup of Nations is the most prestigious football tournament in Africa. The most successful nation has been Egypt with seven trophies (three on the trot), though they last won in 2010. Senegal, meanwhile, has won two of the last three tournaments.

If you’re wondering why the 2025 tournament was being played during winter in Morocco, the reason is European football. African players regularly play in and represent European football clubs in the European football season that runs from August to May, breaking for winter. Coupled with the fact that in 2025 the Club World Cup was expanded to 32 teams and played in June and July (which is when AFCON is usually held, also known as the European football season summer break), the Confederation of African Football (CAF), or the governing body of football in Africa, decided to slot in the latest tournament into the winter break instead.

Morocco hosted the 2025 edition, having last won the tournament 50 years ago in 1976. Morocco has also been investing heavily in football infrastructure: successes include becoming the first African and Arab country ever to make it to the semi finals of the FIFA World Cup in 2022, and hosting the 2030 FIFA World Cup.

To their credit, Morocco made it all the way to the finals, with the expectation that the cup was returning to Morocco for the first time in 50 years. Standing in their way were Senegal, winners of the 2021 tournament, and led by talismanic footballer Sadio Mané.

For the first 90 minutes neither side gave way. It was only late in stoppage time, in the 98th minute, that the referee awarded a penalty to Morocco. Cue passionate scenes of displeasure by the Senegal team, with the Senegalese coach instructing his team to leave the field. Only Mané stayed on, encouraging his teammates to finish the game.

Part of Senegal’s coach’s frustration came from earlier in the game when the referee disallowed a Senegal goal. With emotions reaching a breaking point as the game approached a deadlock, Senegal (except for Mané) left the field, returning to it only after approximately 15 minutes, before scoring the solitary goal of the match in extra time, clinching the cup for the second time in five years.

2️⃣ What was written, and to whom?

Infantino’s Instagram account is public, and as president of FIFA, the world governing body of football, his words carry weight. His position is such that he cannot be seen to be issuing instructions to the CAF on how to handle football on their continent (more on this later). Nevertheless, this was a dramatically unusual way for the most important football match on African soil this year to end, and his words were meant to chastise everyone involved in essentially making football look bad.

DECONSTRUCTING THE TEXT

🗝️ Unlocking Meaning

Infantino, as a FIFA president must be, is the consummate politician. His message begins with a laundry list of compliments to the organising committees, other bureaucrats whom he mentions by name, and of course the leader of Morocco who receives a glowing testimonial. Immediately after this, he speaks to the “unacceptable scenes” from the dying minutes of the final match, reiterating his own condemnation on the “supporters”, “players” and “staff”. In this day and age, with the world’s cameras on you, there’s no way people don’t know exactly who did what.

Which, to me, means Infantino and everybody else can pinpoint with accuracy who was involved and what actions occured. Smartly, he leaves the repercussions of this to the CAF. Though if he was hoping for something stronger from the CAF, he may be a bit disappointed by their official response:

So even the CAF is not willing to take any direct action, leaving it instead to the “competent bodies”, whomever they may be.

Why this tip-toeing on eggshells? Why this passing-the-parcel of responsibility and authority?

👑 Power Play

On the eve of the finals, CAF president Patrice Motespe announced that AFCON, after the 2028 version, will be held every four years, instead of every two. This decision was seemingly taken after consultation with FIFA, which is where the challenge lies. The idea of moving AFCON from biennial to quadrennial was first mooted by Infantino in 2020, but Motespe rejected the notion. AFCON is an increasingly lucrative tournament for CAF, and running it every two years brings more opportunities for local African players to shine on a continental stage and appeal to the deep pocketed European clubs across the Mediterranean.

Now, however, with an increasingly packed global football calendar and expanded global tournaments (the FIFA World Cup will consist of 48 teams, including 9 African teams, later this year), the understanding is that African footballing talent now finds itself with more global opportunities to shine. However, who earns from that talent remains the question. The main criticism of the decision to change the schedule of AFCON was that the change was a FIFA decision, not a CAF one.

In order to not appear that FIFA was dictating the African game, Infantino’s choice of words in his post indicate his expectations rather than instructions. Then again, had Senegal lost, I’m convinced the repercussions would’ve been much more severe. It’s hard to chastise winners, especially when it’s a Sub-Saharan Africa team that defeated an Arab North Africa team.

WHAT DO YOU THINK?

Tell me your reasoning. In next week’s issue, I’ll highlight the most thought-provoking responses.

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