The Athletic FC

Welcome to the Athletic FC podcast with me, Ayo Aki Mulare.

The fallout from that Afcon final way back in January

continues to rumble on.

On Saturday, Senegal paraded the trophy in Paris,

despite having their title stripped and handed to Morocco.

So, what happens next? And how much has this saga damaged the reputation of Afcon?

In with us for this one. We've got Thomas Hill Lopez Mencherro in the studio, and we've also

got Simon Hughes as well.

All right, Thomas, talk to me about Paris on Saturday.

Senegal paraded the Afcon trophy at the Stade of France, ahead of their friendly against Peru.

What was the atmosphere like?

Because this felt like a really defiant moment.

Yeah, it was kind of surreal, I as you say, because it really felt

as if that decision by the CAF Appeals Committee had never happened. I mean, chatting to

Senegalese fans around the Stade de France, around Paris, which obviously has a really

strong Senegalese community. France in general has a really strong Senegalese community.

Nobody really seemed to accept it. Everyone, everyone called themselves champions of Africa,

the coach Pap Thiel, the players did similar in the press conference that week.

Papiol said everybody knows we're champions of Africa, but clearly it is in dispute as things stand.

So, yeah, it was an amazing atmosphere.

They showed a montage of the Afghan final before kickoff.

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