In football, the crowd is often called the "12th player", but at AFCON 2025 in Morocco, that fan role has been elevated to an art form.

Across the stadiums of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the match is only half the story. Football supporters at Africa's biggest football tournament have transformed different stadiums on every match day into a festival.

Supporters singing and moving in choreographed rhythm have become the tournament’s indirect lifeblood, fuelling the tension and excitement that defines African football.

Fans like Mamele Maka say they are at AFCON to be visible and make bold statements.

Clad in a Bafana Bafana colour and theme ensemble, Maka believes that visual flair is a prerequisite for the modern supporter.

“I learnt that you have to look beautiful to make the game look beautiful. I wanted to be visible instantly,” she tells TRT Afrika.

The impact of the fans extends far beyond the final whistle. For example, Senegalese supporters have earned global acclaim for their discipline in cleaning the stands post-match, while others, like Congolese superfan Michel Nkuka Mboladinga, have made a significant impression as the fan who stands frozen still for the duration of DRC’s matches.

For 90 minutes, Mboladinga remains motionless in a deliberate tribute to Patrice Lumumba, the nation’s founding father. His pose has been described as a powerful intersection of sport, memory, and national identity.

The tribute by Mboladinga has grown so popular that members of the Congolese Supporters Club form a protective shield around him as he enters and exits stadiums, as fans rush to catch a glimpse or take selfies.

For him, football is more than a sport—it is also a remembrance, he says. In a tournament defined by noise and spectacle, his silence has become one of AFCON 2025’s most striking and long-lasting expressions.