Traditional healer who collected €33,500 to ‘deliver’ AFCON to Mali arrested after team’s exit

A traditional healer known locally as a marabout has been arrested in Bamako, Mali, after allegedly defrauding supporters who paid him to guarantee the national football team’s success in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).

Mali’s national team was eliminated on Friday in the quarter finals by Senegal 1-0.

The man, identified only as Mr. Sinayogo, reportedly collected more than 22 million CFA francs (about €33,500) in donations from hopeful fans convinced that his spiritual powers would secure glory for the Mali national team.

Sinayogo was arrested in the Malian capital Bamako on Saturday for “fraud” and was being held at the cybercrime division, according to two videographers who visited him.

“Charlatanism is punishable by law in Mali”, an official from the division told AFP.

However, arresting the man while the national team was still competing would have been difficult “in the heat of the Africa Cup of Nations,” he added.

The man, formerly known as a political activist, “proclaimed himself a marabout overnight and made a fortune”, a social media content creator close to him said.