African Football Discussion Thread Current Topic: 👉 AFCON 2025/2026

[ajanwalker]

Senegal deservedly won the cup, albeit in extra time.
The referee's decision to disallow Senegal's goal in regular time was a complete scandal. After this disallowance, he awarded a penalty to Morocco. Some Senegalese players left the field.
Mane called his teammates back from the dressing room, and the match resumed. Mane's very clever handling of this unfavorable situation will not be forgotten for a long time.
Senegal returned to the field. Brahim Diaz attempted a Panenka penalty, but the goalkeeper saved it.
Senegal won the match 1-0 in extra time and became the AFCON champion.

Hopefully, AFCON will be held every four years from now on. There isn't much interest in the cup, but holding it every two years negatively affects African footballers. It has become another low-quality cup.

[TastyChillySauce00]

Morocco had the game practically handed to them with that penalty, but Brahmin Diaz ruined their chances with that panenka. I didn’t think I would see a penalty worse than Chukwueze’s in the same tournament.

Diaz has to be the most hated footballer in Morocco. He has done the dumbest thing ever by mocking Senegal with panenka while his team was not even leading the game. RIP for his career. His pen is gonna be the moment in the football all of moroccan will never forget.

[Frankolala]

Senegal deservedly won the cup, albeit in extra time.
The referee's decision to disallow Senegal's goal in regular time was a complete scandal. After this disallowance, he awarded a penalty to Morocco. Some Senegalese players left the field.
Mane called his teammates back from the dressing room, and the match resumed. Mane's very clever handling of this unfavorable situation will not be forgotten for a long time.
Senegal returned to the field. Brahim Diaz attempted a Panenka penalty, but the goalkeeper saved it.
Senegal won the match 1-0 in extra time and became the AFCON champion.

Hopefully, AFCON will be held every four years from now on. There isn't much interest in the cup, but holding it every two years negatively affects African footballers. It has become another low-quality cup.

It is annoying to see that they referee was supporting Morocco in the finals which wasn't supposed to be so but Senegal put him to shame by winning the game because their plan didn't work out to give Morocco the trophy. This was how the referee robbed Nigeria in the semifinals. I agree with you that's a low quality competition. Four years is cool but it should not clash with the world cup.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

Morocco had the game practically handed to them with that penalty, but Brahmin Diaz ruined their chances with that panenka. I didn’t think I would see a penalty worse than Chukwueze’s in the same tournament.

Diaz has to be the most hated footballer in Morocco. He has done the dumbest thing ever by mocking Senegal with panenka while his team was not even leading the game. RIP for his career. His pen is gonna be the moment in the football all of moroccan will never forget.

Some still believe he did that on purpose because he himself knew that the foul commited does not deserve that penalty award, and also the goal that Senegal scored that was canceled by the referee wasn't supposed to be so as well, that goal was a pure clean goal but that referee choose to be dumbass..

If morocco ended up winning the world cup, I wouldnt have been happy because with all that stuff the referee did, he clearly sided with the Moroccan team and that's nothing but being so unfair in a game that's supposed to be as fair as it can be..
By far, this is the most controversial Afcon I've even seen in all the days and years I've lived, it's not must that a hosting nation must win the Afcon, and if they must, they should win honorably and not by the referee being unfair to the visiting nation.

[Barikui1]

Since Morocco has stayed for 50 years without winning the African Cup of Nations again, I believe CAF wants Morocco to win this year's African Cup of Nations since they are the host, and I think CAF told all the referees that were selected to blow in the African Cup of Nations to blow in favor of Morocco. That's why it's was so easy for Morocco to get away with some things in the African Cup of Nations.

The day light robbery was just too obvious  for the whole world to see, and the negative image it brings to African football should be blame on caf because this is the first time I have experienced an afcon that caf are doing everything possible for the host nation to win it.

From the Morocco vs Cameroon, Morocco vs Nigeria, and this finals, the referee decisions against the opposition team are just too bizarre, so even though it doesn't look nice for African football, but walking off the pitch was necessary, since it's the only action that brought caf and the referee back to their senses, that if they want to spoil the competition, they are also will to contribute to it. That is why I am certain that their was an agreement that Diaz should miss the penalty, nobody should tell me otherwise, because this is Africa. If their was no agreement in place, their is no way Senegal would have returned back to the pitch.

[Tonimez]

Since Morocco has stayed for 50 years without winning the African Cup of Nations again, I believe CAF wants Morocco to win this year's African Cup of Nations since they are the host, and I think CAF told all the referees that were selected to blow in the African Cup of Nations to blow in favor of Morocco. That's why it's was so easy for Morocco to get away with some things in the African Cup of Nations.

The day light robbery was just too obvious  for the whole world to see, and the negative image it brings to African football should be blame on caf because this is the first time I have experienced an afcon that caf are doing everything possible for the host nation to win it.

From the Morocco vs Cameroon, Morocco vs Nigeria, and this finals, the referee decisions against the opposition team are just too bizarre, so even though it doesn't look nice for African football, but walking off the pitch was necessary, since it's the only action that brought caf and the referee back to their senses, that if they want to spoil the competition, they are also will to contribute to it. That is why I am certain that their was an agreement that Diaz should miss the penalty, nobody should tell me otherwise, because this is Africa. If their was no agreement in place, their is no way Senegal would have returned back to the pitch.

I don't believe in the area you said there's an agreement for Diaz to miss the penalty because we all saw how clear it was that CAF wanted Morocco to win the AFCON starting from the onset. Morocco has had so many preferential treatment ranging from playing on the same pitch throughout the tournament and having the referees behind them. Their game against Cameroon was too obvious that everyone could see the game plan. But then after first half against the Senegal team, Morocco still hadn't registered one shot on target which was when I knew they may not survive it.

They used the referee against Nigeria during the semi final and they got away with it. Well I'm glad the title went to Senegal, one of the most silent teams of the tournament with mane in full form and leadership over the games.

[Futurexxx]

I don't believe in the area you said there's an agreement for Diaz to miss the penalty because we all saw how clear it was that CAF wanted Morocco to win the AFCON starting from the onset. .

Wether you agree to it or not, the signs are already there that if they didn't tell the Senegalese players what they wanted to here, they wouldn't have come back into the pitch, and they knows that if the afcon ends in such a way, and the trophy handed over to the Morocco team like that, their would be no way the tournament would be successful and Morocco will never be seen as a legitimate winner of this year afcon.

Additional, it would throw African football into a period where radical changes will be demanded at the top level, because no afcon the officiating is this bad to the extent of it ending in such a manner, so if you look at how the penalty was played, Diaz a left footer shooting the ball with his right foot tells all the story we need to know.

[Oluwa-btc]

Morocco had the game practically handed to them with that penalty, but Brahmin Diaz ruined their chances with that panenka. I didn’t think I would see a penalty worse than Chukwueze’s in the same tournament.

Diaz has to be the most hated footballer in Morocco. He has done the dumbest thing ever by mocking Senegal with panenka while his team was not even leading the game. RIP for his career. His pen is gonna be the moment in the football all of moroccan will never forget.

He will never forget that goal for the rest of his life. What's the obsession with the goalkeepers towel from Morocco fans?! They did that against Nigerian Nwabali and they pull that up again yesterday night with Mendy. There's also a video of Hakimi doing the same. Honestly,  it feels good now to why Algeria never wanted Morocco to win it. Congratulations to Sadio Mane he's indeed an African legend. He will be missed. Situations like yesterday showed his leadership qualities.

[Joeboy]

Senegal deservedly won the cup, albeit in extra time.
The referee's decision to disallow Senegal's goal in regular time was a complete scandal. After this disallowance, he awarded a penalty to Morocco. Some Senegalese players left the field.
Mane called his teammates back from the dressing room, and the match resumed. Mane's very clever handling of this unfavorable situation will not be forgotten for a long time.
Senegal returned to the field. Brahim Diaz attempted a Panenka penalty, but the goalkeeper saved it.
Senegal won the match 1-0 in extra time and became the AFCON champion.

Hopefully, AFCON will be held every four years from now on. There isn't much interest in the cup, but holding it every two years negatively affects African footballers. It has become another low-quality cup.

It is annoying to see that they referee was supporting Morocco in the finals which wasn't supposed to be so but Senegal put him to shame by winning the game because their plan didn't work out to give Morocco the trophy. This was how the referee robbed Nigeria in the semifinals. I agree with you that's a low quality competition. Four years is cool but it should not clash with the world cup.

What I still find hard to understand was why the Morroccans tried to take the towel of Mendy, Did you guys notice that? This same thing happened with Nwabali....Maybe they thought that the towel is some kind of charm or what....My take on yesterday was that all odds were against the Senegalese, starting from the Ref's decisions to the cancelled goals and whatnot, but the Senegalese still stood firm..I really loved the confidence of Mendy when Diaz was about to take the penalty....He stood firm, focused and confident even at that dying minute and wasn't even fooled by the Panenka PK..Mendy is indeed a great goal keeper...

And also to the man of the game Pape Gueye, I never believe he would even be the one to score the winning goal, he was a defender of course....The goal sef was even a shock to me, coz he was at the verge of falling when he took the shot, he wasn't even balanced on the ground when he played it....No one expected him to shoot from that position, not even the Bono the GK...

[Adbitco]

As we draw the curtain close yesterday and Senegal crowned champions of Africa in the just concluded AFCON, of course as every tournament comes to a close, awards are been given out. Brahin Diaz wins the golden boot with 5 goals to his name and he made personal record by becoming the first player in the AFCON to score in 5 consecutive games. It was only against Nigeria and Senegal he didn't score against, although he missed the opportunity of scoring against Senegal after Mendy kept out his penalty kick. Sadio Mane has been so impressive for his nation in the tournament and he wins the golden ball, which means, he was the best player of the tournament. The Moroccan goalkeeper wins the golden glove award and lastly, the Moroccan team won the fair play award. From the look of things, if Morocco had won the tournament, they would have practically win all the award alongside.

[Mayor of ogba]

Morocco had the game practically handed to them with that penalty, but Brahmin Diaz ruined their chances with that panenka. I didn’t think I would see a penalty worse than Chukwueze’s in the same tournament.

Diaz has to be the most hated footballer in Morocco. He has done the dumbest thing ever by mocking Senegal with panenka while his team was not even leading the game. RIP for his career. His pen is gonna be the moment in the football all of moroccan will never forget.

Diaz won't be the hated footballer in Morocco, and his career isn't dead. If you rewatch the penalty of Diaz, you will know that CAF, Morocco, and Senegal agreed Morocco will miss the penalty because before Diaz kicked the ball, Mendy passed the goal line, and the referee was supposed to ask Diaz to retake the penalty since Mendy passed the goal line before Diaz kicked the ball, but since it was an agreement that Morocco would miss the penalty, the referee overlooked the situation.

[Jostern]

Morocco had the game practically handed to them with that penalty, but Brahmin Diaz ruined their chances with that panenka. I didn’t think I would see a penalty worse than Chukwueze’s in the same tournament.

Diaz has to be the most hated footballer in Morocco. He has done the dumbest thing ever by mocking Senegal with panenka while his team was not even leading the game. RIP for his career. His pen is gonna be the moment in the football all of moroccan will never forget.

Diaz won't be the hated footballer in Morocco, and his career isn't dead. If you rewatch the penalty of Diaz, you will know that CAF, Morocco, and Senegal agreed Morocco will miss the penalty because before Diaz kicked the ball, Mendy passed the goal line, and the referee was supposed to ask Diaz to retake the penalty since Mendy passed the goal line before Diaz kicked the ball, but since it was an agreement that Morocco would miss the penalty, the referee overlooked the situation.

Africa Football is a disgrace, Which is why mostly all African Countries are a disgrace, and this will always bring a bad name to African football, because I haven’t seen where a teams walks of the pitch because of a bad decision and officiating by the Referee, Well we see this things in African local community football where Referees are beaten up always.

Well as for Brahim Diaz it was an awful penalty for him to miss, and I believe they must have agreed he should miss that penalty before the Senegalese players came on to the Pitch, Senegalese teams are a disgrace they should be fined or given suspension to learn, from their action and conduct in the game.

If FIFA or CAF doesn’t do anything about that ugly attitude of the Senegalese I think African football will continue to be a laughable Joke as always people have been laughing African football.

Just imagine the whole world is watching and you walk off the pitch for almost 20 minutes straight it’s an ugly situation and a bad image for the Continent Football.

[Spaceman1000$]

Referees has been a major issue in this year's AFCON tournament, this same complain about referee came up against Nigeria game vs Morocco, now we are having referee awarding a penalty 90+ to Morocco, knowing fully well that the match will be ending in the next minute, Thank Goodness the goal keeper caught the ball, and Senegal is leading 1-0 for now.

The referee is indirectly supporting Morroco and it is quite obvious that the referee need to be sanction for taking side in this match. They want to draw the match with Senegal so that they will play penalty at the end of the match.
Africa should wise up and the bad eggs need to be wiped out because this is a degrace.

Sincerely speaking this is really degrading, we watch European tournament's on a steady, hardly can you witness such an embarrassing situation, a clear indication of the umpire being biased, and the annoying part is that, this is the finals that everybody is on standby watching, the whole World is watching. Sincerely I must salute the resilience of Mane, even when the Senegal players left the picth in a bid to protest their frustration, he quickly called them back to continue the game, and eventually they won, that's leadership for you.

[Mayor of ogba]

Morocco had the game practically handed to them with that penalty, but Brahmin Diaz ruined their chances with that panenka. I didn’t think I would see a penalty worse than Chukwueze’s in the same tournament.

Diaz has to be the most hated footballer in Morocco. He has done the dumbest thing ever by mocking Senegal with panenka while his team was not even leading the game. RIP for his career. His pen is gonna be the moment in the football all of moroccan will never forget.

He will never forget that goal for the rest of his life. What's the obsession with the goalkeepers towel from Morocco fans?! They did that against Nigerian Nwabali and they pull that up again yesterday night with Mendy. There's also a video of Hakimi doing the same. Honestly,  it feels good now to why Algeria never wanted Morocco to win it. Congratulations to Sadio Mane he's indeed an African legend. He will be missed. Situations like yesterday showed his leadership qualities.

I used to have so much respect for Hakimi as a good player that's dedicated to his job but I lost the respect I have for Hakimi after he threw Mendy's towel away. That's not a sign of good sportsmanship. Morocco tried their best to cheat to win the African Cup of Nations, but I am that Senegal didn't allow that to happen last night.

[yixichloro2xx]

Senegal deservedly won the cup, albeit in extra time.
The referee's decision to disallow Senegal's goal in regular time was a complete scandal. After this disallowance, he awarded a penalty to Morocco. Some Senegalese players left the field.
Mane called his teammates back from the dressing room, and the match resumed. Mane's very clever handling of this unfavorable situation will not be forgotten for a long time.
Senegal returned to the field. Brahim Diaz attempted a Panenka penalty, but the goalkeeper saved it.
Senegal won the match 1-0 in extra time and became the AFCON champion.

Hopefully, AFCON will be held every four years from now on. There isn't much interest in the cup, but holding it every two years negatively affects African footballers. It has become another low-quality cup.

They think they could cheat and win the trophy,  they cancelled a clear goal . This why African competition at times annoys, they would want keep favoring some team especially the northern parts. Good sportsmanship from Mane as he called his players back. My mind was just telling me that Morocco might miss the penalty. Hadn't been they score that penalty it would have been one the biggest scandal in  Afcon. The Senegalese has one of the best squad in this Afcon, they were the favorite apart from Nigeia. As for Diaz, I don't think the Morrocans football Association would want to call him up for the world cup, he went from being a hero to a villain.

[Mayor of ogba]

Senegal deservedly won the cup, albeit in extra time.
The referee's decision to disallow Senegal's goal in regular time was a complete scandal. After this disallowance, he awarded a penalty to Morocco. Some Senegalese players left the field.
Mane called his teammates back from the dressing room, and the match resumed. Mane's very clever handling of this unfavorable situation will not be forgotten for a long time.
Senegal returned to the field. Brahim Diaz attempted a Panenka penalty, but the goalkeeper saved it.
Senegal won the match 1-0 in extra time and became the AFCON champion.

Hopefully, AFCON will be held every four years from now on. There isn't much interest in the cup, but holding it every two years negatively affects African footballers. It has become another low-quality cup.

It is annoying to see that they referee was supporting Morocco in the finals which wasn't supposed to be so but Senegal put him to shame by winning the game because their plan didn't work out to give Morocco the trophy. This was how the referee robbed Nigeria in the semifinals. I agree with you that's a low quality competition. Four years is cool but it should not clash with the world cup.

CAF and all the referees that were picked to officiate in the African Cup of Nations were in support of Morocco from day one. Morocco won't have reached the final if the referees that oversee Morocco matches were fair enough, but Morocco keeps progressing in the African Cup of Nations because they had the backing of the referees and CAF. It's very good as Senegal walks out from the field and exposes how CAF wants to help Morocco win the African Cup of Nations cheaply.

[Frankolala]

CAF and all the referees that were picked to officiate in the African Cup of Nations were in support of Morocco from day one. Morocco won't have reached the final if the referees that oversee Morocco matches were fair enough, but Morocco keeps progressing in the African Cup of Nations because they had the backing of the referees and CAF. It's very good as Senegal walks out from the field and exposes how CAF wants to help Morocco win the African Cup of Nations cheaply.

It's clear that all the referees and CAF has been bribed by Morocco government before the tournament started thinking they can do with by their own power. This made it look unprofessional because we saw their biased decisions which shouldn't be so in a competition like the AFCON that should be highly preserved and transparent. The AFCON has lost its taste and quality since CAF have brought corruption into it.

[Adbitco]

So the Moroccan coach came out to say it was disgraceful for what the Senegal coach said to his boys, it's funny though. If everything was really fair enough do you think he would have instructed his boys to leave the pitch? You people wanted to frustrate Senegal so they would get angry and leave the pitch in anger, by so doing forfeit the match and Morocco would have been declared champions. You didn't see what host team fans were doing to Senegal coupled with the fact that the referee was doing his own as well. It's good that you guys didn't become the champions, you play good football but at the same time, you still cheat in the process, why couldn't everything just be fair on both sides.

[Odusko]

So the Moroccan coach came out to say it was disgraceful for what the Senegal coach said to his boys, it's funny though. If everything was really fair enough do you think he would have instructed his boys to leave the pitch? You people wanted to frustrate Senegal so they would get angry and leave the pitch in anger, by so doing forfeit the match and Morocco would have been declared champions. You didn't see what host team fans were doing to Senegal coupled with the fact that the referee was doing his own as well. It's good that you guys didn't become the champions, you play good football but at the same time, you still cheat in the process, why couldn't everything just be fair on both sides.

Moroccan where acting out of frustration and from the very fact that their are the host team make them more advantageous even in their match against Nigeria we saw how the referee make sure to pad them till winning he did that almost unknownly to most of us, but the joy is that in the end Morocco did not win the trophy despite being the host.

[GiftedMAN]

I used to have so much respect for Hakimi as a good player that's dedicated to his job but I lost the respect I have for Hakimi after he threw Mendy's towel away. That's not a sign of good sportsmanship. Morocco tried their best to cheat to win the African Cup of Nations, but I am that Senegal didn't allow that to happen last night.

You have to forgive him for being so ignorant forgetting that he's no longer a common street footballer. This is African football the mentality of most of the players is that the keepers uses African magic (JUJU) in their towels that's why they find it difficult to score them.
Morocco against Nigeria the balls boys took the towel of Nwabali the Nigerian goal keeper twice but nothing happened, after the game they were supposed to caution them but we didn't see any statement from anybody, what we experienced in the competition would have been worse if Morocco had failed to qualify to the knockout stage.