AFCON 2023: How Six Fans Died Celebrating Team’s Victory

For many following AFCON 2023 matches, the best way to describe it, is victory with a bitter taste..

This follows the loss of six lives of fans jubilating their team’s triumph in one of the matches of the ongoing AFCON 2023 in Cote d’Ivoire.

Guinea triumphed over The Gambia 1-0 in their second group game on Friday night, the country’s first win in the continental football fiesta.

This sent the entire country on a celebration binge, but by the time the dust cleared a little, six excited fans lay dead..

A BBC report quoting the Guinean Football Federation, Feguifoot, said the incident happened Conakry, the capital.

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There was no limitation to the celebrations, but involved fans driving cars and motorcycles, which resulted in the death of the six.

The sad development has damped spirits, extracting cautionary responses from the authorities;  

“What is important is that our fans and the public celebrate in a very measured fashion,” Feguifoot media manager Amadou Makadji told BBC Sport Africa.

“They have to be very careful to not put themselves in danger, because the goal of football is to bring joy and not leave families bereaved. We do not want deaths to mourn, so we call on everyone to celebrate but to take care of themselves so that nothing happens to them.

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“Guinea is a country where people are very, very passionate about football and they experience football like nowhere else in the world,” Makadji stated.

What has not changed however is that Guinea now occupies the second position in Group C with four points, two behind reigning champions Senegal.

Cameroon is third on the table, while Gambia trails.

The Guinea goal was scored by Aguibou Camara

Reports have cited Pascal Feindouno, one of Guinea’s outstanding players that helped Guinea reach three straight quarter-finals between 2004 and 2008, also reacted to the tragedy at AFCON 2023.

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“I have a message to send to Guinean men and women. Rest assured that we will do something at the Nations Cup but we have learned something that will destabilise us. We learned there were deaths after the victory against The Gambia – we want this to stop because we are here to defend the colours of the country.

“Everything is going well for us at the moment so support the country but don’t do anything to kill each other or oneself. Stay calm – thank you,” he said