Africa
Senegal is handing out millions in money and land to its historic soccer champions
The mood in Senegal after its men’s soccer team won the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) for the first time on Feb. 6 has been close to ecstasy. It has spread beyond the capital city Dakar to communities in the US where Senegalese live, like Harlem in New York.
Following their victory over Egypt, Kalidou Koulibaly, Sadio Mané, and their teammates were treated to a grand welcome at home, helped by the declaration of a public holiday on the Monday after the final. But in addition to the goodwill of joyous crowds that cheered on the players as they paraded through streets on open-top buses, Senegal’s president Macky Sall announced three rewards to the entire delegation of players and staff who helped achieve the historic feat in Cameroon.
Senegal’s president Macky Sall is on stage with a smiling Sadio Mane, with team captain Kalidou Koulibaly holding the Afcon trophy.
Reward validates Aliou Cisse’s long-term vision
Senegal will receive $5 million as the official prize from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) for winning the 2021 Afcon.
But Sall said “the players and other members of the official delegation will each receive a special bonus of 50 million CFA francs ($87,412) and a 200 square meter plot of land in Dakar,” according to Reuters. They will also each be referred to as Grand Officers of the National Order of the Lion, Senegal’s highest honor (the national team is known as the “Teranga Lions”.)
Senegal’s Afcon squad was staffed with some of the best players in the world in their positions, including Edouard Mendy whom the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) recently crowned the best goalkeeper in the world. These players plying their trade at elite European clubs are well paid relative to Senegal’s minimum wage of 36 cents an hour. Star man Mané, who became the country’s joint-highest scorer of all time, earns £100,000 a week at Liverpool which is the equivalent of Sall’s cash gift.
But not every member of the team earns as much as Mané, and the Senegalese president’s gesture is not aimed at enriching the players anyway. Instead, it is more a recognition of perseverance shown by the team under the tutelage of Aliou Cisse, Senegal’s 45-year-old head coach since 2015.
Cisse was Senegal’s captain in 2002 and missed the last penalty kick in the country’s first Afcon final against Cameroon. He was the leader as they reached the quarter-final stage in their first World Cup later that summer and, as coach, guided the team to second place in the 2019 Afcon. As one of the continent’s notable local coaches, his story was a rallying point for neutrals who wanted Senegal to finally join Africa’s group of soccer champions.
Immediately after getting drafted, Maluach was asked: “So many people, when they think about Africa, think about strife, think about war, think about not so great things about the continent, let alone South Sudan. How much of a responsibility do you think you have in changing perceptions of what people think Africa is in terms of thinking more about the resources, thinking about the people of Africa and South Sudan, specifically?”
Maluach’s native country, South Sudan, is undergoing a humanitarian crisis. His family fled the country to a suburb of Kampala, Uganda, in search of safety and opportunity during the South Sudan crisis. He now hopes to change the narrative about the region by highlighting its good parts on the world stage.
“I think about showing them the good parts of Africa,” Maluach said at the press conference after he was drafted. “I’m thinking about showing them the great places in Africa, like Kigali, whether it’s Senegal, whether it’s the safaris in Africa, and showing them the cultures we have and the people we have, which is different from the stuff they see on TV. I just want to change the narrative, the narrative of our people and how they see my continent.”
Maluach was born in Rumbek, once an important city in South Sudan that was ravaged by the country’s civil war. The 7’2″ center’s road to success was far from easy. The nearest basketball court to his house was nearly an hour’s walk away and usually packed. Moreover, he played his first game in Crocs, not basketball shoes. But his dedication was enough to catch the eye of local coaches Wal Deng and Aketch Garang.
Through the effort that he put in, Maluach made it to the NBA Academy Africa in Saly, Senegal, then to the Duke Blue Devils, and now the Suns. He hopes the moment inspires kids on the continent.
“Living in Africa, I had the whole continent on my back. Giving hope to young kids,” he said after the Suns selected him No. 10 overall.
Maluach considers basketball a gift God gave him, and hopes to finish off his NBA career as a Hall of Famer.
After making history as Nigeria’s first female fighter pilot, Flt. Lt. Kafayat Sanni has emerged as the Best Allied Student and won the Best Assistant Commandant Paper award at the Ghana Armed Forces Command and Staff College, Accra, according to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN).
In a statement released on Saturday and cited by NAN, the Director of Public Relations and Information of the Nigerian Air Force, Air Commodore Ehimen Ejodame, said the awards were presented on Friday during the College graduation ceremony which had in attendance top military personnel and dignitaries from across Africa.
Ejodame recalled how Sanni first made the news in 2019 after being decorated as the Nigerian Air Force’s first female fighter pilot following her pilot training in the U.S.
“Since then, she has flown the Alpha Jet as well as undertaken training sorties on the Super Mushshak as a prolific instructor pilot, producing and mentoring younger pilots for the NAF,” Ejodame said.
“Her outstanding performance at GAFCSC not only symbolises personal excellence and resilience but also underscores Nigeria’s growing leadership in regional defence and commitment to gender inclusion in the armed forces.
“This remarkable achievement further reflects the Nigerian Air Force’s strategic investment in human capital development under the visionary leadership of the Chief of the Air Staff, Air Marshal Hasan Abubakar,” he said.
In 2017, Sanni emerged as the overall best pilot at the Nigerian Air Force’s 401 training school before she moved to the United States to train at the U.S. Aviation Leadership program.
Upon completion, Sanni returned to Nigeria, where she, alongside 12 new fighter pilots, was decorated.
As Sanni became the first female fighter pilot in the 55-year history of the Nigerian Air Force, her colleague, Tolulope Arotile, also became the Force’s first female combat helicopter pilot.
“It is a privilege for me to be winged as the first female fighter pilot in the Nigerian Air Force,” Sanni said after being decorated.
Sanni said at the time she had always wanted to be a fighter pilot, and “I was just lucky to be chosen.”
“It was also my choice. It was what I wanted to do. And I felt that everyone is not supposed to fold their arms and watch what is happening in our country.
“Everyone could always play their part. So, I did not think there was any reason for me to think that it is not possible for me to actually fly the jet because there was no female that ever flew the jet. I believe I could achieve it and I did,” she said.
She then went on to advise younger girls to “never say no to opportunities.”
“They should always strive to be the best and put in their efforts. They should never look at anything that seems to want to overpower or overshadow them. For me, you can always attempt things and if they do not work out well; fine. But at every point in time, you just need to put in your best.”
U.S. hotel chains Hilton and Marriott have announced African expansion drives to tap into the continent’s rapid tourism growth.
Rising business and leisure travel on the continent has made it increasingly attractive for multinational companies and Hilton said on Wednesday that it plans to more than triple its African portfolio to more than 160 hotels.
The company plans to enter Angola, Ghana and Benin for the first time while returning to Madagascar and Tanzania, its statement said without providing a specific time horizon for the expansion plans.
Marriott expects to add 50 properties by 2027, it said on Wednesday. Those will include entry into five new countries: Cape Verde, Ivory Coast, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Madagascar and Mauritania.
The group’s existing African portfolio encompasses nearly 150 properties and 26,000 rooms across 20 countries and 22 brands.
Airlines have also increased their African capacity.
Emirates now offers 161 weekly flights across Africa, recently adding daily services to Entebbe and Addis Ababa. United Airlines launched a direct Washington-Dakar route in May and Delta will begin a seasonal daily flight to Accra in December.
International arrivals to the continent rose 9% year on year in the first quarter of 2025, the United Nations World Tourism Organization says, 16% above the same period of pre-pandemic 2019.
That momentum is translating into economic impact. Tourism accounts for between 3% and 7% of gross domestic product in countries such as Kenya, Morocco and South Africa, and up to 15% in tourism-heavy economies such as Namibia, World Bank and national statistics show.
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