Senegal captain Kalidou Koulibaly questioned why African supporters have been shut out of their own team’s World Cup matches, speaking out after a US travel ban signed by President Donald Trump left thousands of Senegalese fans unable to attend the tournament.
The 35-year-old defender made his feelings clear to The Athletic following Senegal’s 3-1 opening defeat to France at MetLife Stadium on Tuesday — a match played in front of a crowd that was overwhelmingly partisan in France’s favour, a direct consequence of a December 2025 presidential proclamation barring most Senegalese nationals from entering the US on tourist or visitor visas.
“I think that every team can have their people, so I don’t understand why people from Africa cannot have their people,” Koulibaly said.
The ban — which covers Senegal, Ivory Coast, Iran, and Haiti — applies to the B1/B2 tourist and visitor visa category, the precise class needed to purchase World Cup tickets and travel to matches. Athletes, coaches, and the immediate relatives of squad members were carved out by exemption, meaning players compete while their wider support networks remain grounded. Senegal’s football federation managed to arrange visas for players’ families, but ordinary fans had no such pathway.
“The federation did the work for us to have parents or our close family with us,” Koulibaly said. “But it’s true that some supporters couldn’t fly to America.”
Koulibaly stopped short of a political attack. “I don’t want to speak about politics or something like this. I just want to speak about football, enjoy football, and I think football is for everybody,” he said.
The issue extends beyond Senegal. Cape Verde goalkeeper Vozinha made seven saves to hold Spain to a goalless draw on Monday, then broke down in tears after the final whistle — his mother could not afford the $15,000 visa bond required under a separate US programme for nationals of Cape Verde and four other African nations. After House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries intervened directly with Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Washington confirmed on Wednesday that Vozinha’s mother now has a visa and will travel to Miami for Cape Verde’s Group match against Uruguay on June 21.
The Senegalese Football Federation’s secretary general acknowledged the damage bluntly, telling AFP: “It is really regrettable. FIFA knew about all this. These are the laws of the United States and we have to respect them.” FIFA has confirmed it has no authority to override national immigration law.
A White House fact sheet cited Senegal’s 4.30 percent overstay rate on tourist visas and 13.07 percent overstay rate in student and cultural exchange categories as justification for the restriction. For Senegal, the tournament’s extraordinary context made the ban hit harder: this is the first time the side has entered a World Cup without an official government-sponsored fan group travelling at state expense.
Koulibaly said he drew some comfort from the support of the Senegalese diaspora already living in the US, with Harlem’s tight-knit Senegalese community visible in the stands. But the captain’s message was direct. “I just want to tell this and I hope that the situation will be OK,” he said, “but for me the most important is that we have to play for our people.”
With two group games remaining — and the question of fan access still unresolved for Senegal, Ivory Coast, and the other affected nations — the travel ban looks set to remain one of the defining off-field issues of this tournament.
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