When Senegal’s Teranga Lions lifted the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, Dakar lost its composure in the best way possible, with streets becoming dance floors.
Development Diaries reports that car horns turned into musical instruments, and even people who swear they ‘do not really follow football’ suddenly remembered every player’s name.
For a few sweet hours, the country agreed on one thing without opening a WhatsApp group, and honestly, that victory was deserved.
The West Africans did not stumble into glory, as years of youth academies, coaching systems, nutrition plans, and deliberate investment produced that moment.
And come to think of it, if Senegal can plan youth excellence so carefully on the football pitch, why does it leave the rest of its young people to freestyle their futures?
The same country that can produce world-class facilities for elite athletes still sends millions of ordinary youths into overcrowded classrooms with thin textbooks and tired teachers.
The same state that can map out a decade-long football strategy somehow cannot design a clear path from school to work for the average graduate. It is almost as if young people deserve structure only when they are wearing boots and shin guards.
Youth unemployment remains stubbornly high, hovering in the upper teens and beyond. And yes, youth programmes exist, but a recent review found that only ‘a tiny portion of disadvantaged young individuals’ can actually access them.
Refugees, young people with disabilities, and rural teenagers who need help the most are often left outside the gate. What this indicates is that on paper, everyone is invited, but in reality, only a few make the team.
So while we chant the names of goal scorers, vocational centres lack equipment, young people watch the government pour energy into AFCON campaigns and wonder why their own dreams require personal miracles to survive.
Football, in this sense, is both inspiration and indictment, proving that Senegal knows how to do youth development when it truly cares. The Lions’ triumph shows what happens when talent meets planning and when potential meets patience, just as it also exposes how accidental everything else feels.
Imagine a Senegal where youth employment schemes are funded with the urgency of a penalty shootout. Where science labs receive the same attention as training grounds. Where every young person, not just the gifted striker, is treated as a national investment.
The Lions have shown us what intentional youth empowerment looks like. Now the ball is at the feet of those in power. Because a country that can raise champions should not be comfortable raising spectators.
