Football fans in Benin Republic are taking no chances to ensure their national football team wins the ongoing Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt, as they approach voodoo to seal the team’s progress at the competition.
ThePunch reports that Dah Gbediga, president of the indigenous religions of Benin, was joined by several other vodunsi practitioners on Sunday for a “special ceremony to support the Squirrels”, as the national squad are nicknamed.
The traditionalists sacrificed a goat and three sheep behind closed doors, before priestess in her sixties led the prayers in front of around a hundred followers.
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“This is something new for our players in this competition, people think we will make a poor showing, but they are wrong, we are committed to doing our best,” intoned the priestess, Tangninnon, gripping a gourd of water and her walking stick.
“There is a march towards progress in football with the support of the ancestors and nothing else should stop us,” he told AFP, wearing a beaded skullcap and necklace.
“We achieved what we had never done before this year, we have impressed the whole world and we ask the ancestors to make it last for as long as possible.”
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