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Attacks targeting Morocco, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), and even FIFA are on the rise. Despite Senegal’s victory over Morocco in the final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, some Senegalese journalists have launched what they describe as «investigations» aimed at proving the existence of widespread corruption.
Senegalese journalist Pape Alé Niang, who became Director General of Senegal’s public broadcaster RTS1 in 2024, published a post on X that quickly gained traction, amassing more than 69,000 views. The post features a video showing FIFA President Gianni Infantino holding a jersey of the Atlas Lions alongside Fouzi Lekjaa, President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Walid Regragui, head coach of the Moroccan national team, and former international Houssine Kharja.
Infantino, the FIFA President, must be removed because he has not shown neutrality. Visiting Morocco on the eve of the final to offer them his support is unacceptable. As for CAF, the submissive ones, let's not even mention them. But the lions knew how to face the plot. pic.twitter.com/QAOmm1FoVt
— Pape Alé Niang (@papealeniang) January 23, 2026
Confident in his claims, Pape Alé Niang asserted that Infantino «visited Morocco the day before the final to offer them his support», presenting this as evidence of a «lack of neutrality» and calling for his removal from the presidency of FIFA. He also targeted CAF, accusing it of «collusion» against Senegal, before concluding that «the Lions knew how to face this plot».
Collusion Between a Senegalese Journalist and a Polisario Supporter
However, the confidence displayed by the Senegalese state television journalist does not withstand scrutiny. The video cited as evidence does not date back to the eve of the AFCON final, but to December 20, 2025, during the African Ballon d’Or ceremony, where Moroccan international Achraf Hakimi was honored.
The context constructed by Pape Alé Niang is therefore entirely fabricated. Despite this, and contrary to basic journalistic standards, several Senegalese media outlets relayed the claim without verification, including Senenews and Dakarmatin.
An additional troubling element is that the RTS journalist relied exclusively on a post published two days earlier by a known Polisario supporter, which had garnered 374,000 views, without conducting any independent verification. This same pro-Polisario account, operated by Rashid Lehbib—well known for spreading false information about Morocco—had itself reposted the video from another account, Effet secondaire, whose post exceeded 539,000 views.
The false narrative was further amplified by YouTube channels on January 21, including Soccer Football (60,000 views) and World Foot Actu (35,000 views).
Within just a few hours, a handful of tweets and videos allowed this piece of misinformation to exceed one million views. The apparent coordination between a journalist from Senegal’s public broadcaster and a Polisario supporter raises serious questions about political motivations, particularly as it comes only days before the meeting of the High Joint Commission between Morocco and Senegal, scheduled to take place in Rabat on January 26 and 27.
