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

[Hardyrobust]

Reason why I will always commend the Senegalese players for their dedication and commitment to stand for their rights and was so excited they won. I have never seen a game which is so biased like the one played with Senegal and Morocco in the finals. Morocco had planned to reward the referee handsomely for blowing the penalty at such a crucial time. It was almost impossible for the Senegalese to survive such blow of heat but they were so lucky to have stand on their feet and protested it firmly.

I like the fact that Senegal team stood on their ground, because the penalty the referee gave the Morocco team was not fair enough. Although everything that happened in the afcon final between Morocco and Senegal was a plan work between the referee and the Moroccans. Moroccans were so eager to win that afcon tournament by all means. They were even showing it in their behaviours. Because how on earth will a country and their team choose to focus on nwabali's tower and Mendy's tower instead of focusing how they can win the afcon tournament. Frankly speaking the Moroccans are a big disgrace to Africa football, and they should never host any afcon tournament again.

It's clear there were strong emotions on both sides. Senegal ultimately won the match 1-0 in extra time, with Pape Gueye scoring the decisive goal. The aftermath saw CAF clearing the referee, Jean-Jacques Ndala, of wrongdoing, while Morocco's coach, Walid Regragui, described the scenes as shameful. The AFCON final between Morocco and Senegal was indeed intense, with controversy surrounding the penalty awarded to Morocco. Senegal's coach, Pape Thiaw, felt strongly about the decision, leading his team to temporarily walk off the pitch in protest. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) later sanctioned both teams

The confederation of African football was right about that decision of sanctioning both teams. Some people don't understand the essence of football. Football isn't all about winning,  both Senegal and Cameroon don't understand the importance of CAF. The competition was to foster unity and not the other way round.
The Senegal coach made a big mistake by telling his players to leave the pitch while match was still on going and I think this the first time this kind of thing is happening.

[Stable090]

AFCON have come and gone and we are still hearing funny and irrelevant complaints that doesn't help the reputation of African football, this complaint that I'm hearing about regarding stealing of towel and witchcraft is really ridiculous.

Everything about African is just always different, other people are playing peaceful football, but when it comes to Africa everything is always different, and you going to start hearing some crazy things which you are not suppose to hear. Things like this are just spoiling our reputation in Africa.

How will you be playing football and you going to be accusing your opponent of using a Vodoo, if not in Africa where are you going to hear things like this happen? It’s better we just stop behaviors like this, and start playing normal football, don’t even believe in things like that. Saying it in public that a particular country makes use of Vodoo just makes me weak.

[Localhostspeed]

Both of Morocco and Senegal got fined for the attitudes of their players, fans and ball collectors. Obviously Morocco fine was lower because their attitudes weren't that bad comparing to Senegal coach decision to ruin the competition by withdrawing his players outside of the stadium. This move was the major mistake done in the game according to Moroccan and CAF. Luckily the sanctions were limited to the CAF related competitions, otherwise they were able to extend it to the FIFA competitions including World Cup. By the way both nations were lucky also to not be sanctioned by FIFA body.

When someone told me that Morocco paid CAF officialls to win this league, I was saying it's speculation and not real but their actions is pointing fingers to this talks that is going around. Why fine Morroco less with what they were doing or maybe CAF is afraid that Morroco will comes at them after the rigorous back end meeting and at the same time they don't want to make the public feel like they didn't take any action and for that reason they made it this way.

I don't know if I'm going to watch any game that is going to be organized by CAF, they are worst than actions of Fifa. This same Morroco that was saying they are not Africans because they feel they have light skin. No wonder I love how Ethiopians don't like to be associated with the Africa collections of growth, it's because they know it wouldn't work due to are diversity and different culture, it's not working but we want to form this unity that is not there.

[Taricoins]

AFCON have come and gone and we are still hearing funny and irrelevant complaints that doesn't help the reputation of African football, this complaint that I'm hearing about regarding stealing of towel and witchcraft is really ridiculous.

Everything about African is just always different, other people are playing peaceful football, but when it comes to Africa everything is always different, and you going to start hearing some crazy things which you are not suppose to hear. Things like this are just spoiling our reputation in Africa.

How will you be playing football and you going to be accusing your opponent of using a Vodoo, if not in Africa where are you going to hear things like this happen? It’s better we just stop behaviors like this, and start playing normal football, don’t even believe in things like that. Saying it in public that a particular country makes use of Vodoo just makes me weak.

Lol 😂😂 sometimes I say to myself if all these voodoo stuff actually work the way they claim it to be then a whole lot of club would have won the world cup by now especially the African teams that claim to do this because if you claim that a team used voodoo on you then it very clear that they can use it on a global stage so what stops them from using it till they even maybe win the competition or get to the finals. It's just one crazy thought but that's African football for you.

[Silikiem]

AFCON have come and gone and we are still hearing funny and irrelevant complaints that doesn't help the reputation of African football, this complaint that I'm hearing about regarding stealing of towel and witchcraft is really ridiculous.

Everything about African is just always different, other people are playing peaceful football, but when it comes to Africa everything is always different, and you going to start hearing some crazy things which you are not suppose to hear. Things like this are just spoiling our reputation in Africa.

How will you be playing football and you going to be accusing your opponent of using a Vodoo, if not in Africa where are you going to hear things like this happen? It’s better we just stop behaviors like this, and start playing normal football, don’t even believe in things like that. Saying it in public that a particular country makes use of Vodoo just makes me weak.

And I think it’s because of this voodoo thing that makes those morocan players and their ball boys to be taking the towels of Nigerian goalkeeper Stanley Nwabali and Senegals Eduard Mendy in the game between Morocco and Nigeria and Senegal respectively. It was mostly notable in the final match between Morocco and Senegal, even the morocan skipper and current African player of the year Acraf Hakimi was seen taking the towels of the Senegalese goal keeper. Perhaps the Moroccans also feel that there could be the possibility of those towels to contain some African dark magic or voodoo as widely described.

[GiftedMAN]

Morocco stealing towels and accusing their opponents of witchcraft without evidence in the just concluded African Cup of Nations is wrong, and that alone is enough to tarnish African football. I am not even surprised that Senegal got fined more than Morocco, because Morocco is CAF's favorite team in the 2025 African Cup of Nations tournament.

You just have to understand that CAF projected Morocco to win because they made a lot of money from them in the tournament so you don't expect them to cause them pains when they lost the tournament to another nation, Senegal should pay whatever they fined them but the whole world will never forget how Morocco treated the other nations even some players who complained of food poisoning CAF didn't say a word about it and they didn't penalize Morocco as expected it leaves me with no option of believing all you said concerning CAF and Morocco.

[Mr Reporter]

Reason why I will always commend the Senegalese players for their dedication and commitment to stand for their rights and was so excited they won. I have never seen a game which is so biased like the one played with Senegal and Morocco in the finals. Morocco had planned to reward the referee handsomely for blowing the penalty at such a crucial time. It was almost impossible for the Senegalese to survive such blow of heat but they were so lucky to have stand on their feet and protested it firmly.

I like the fact that Senegal team stood on their ground, because the penalty the referee gave the Morocco team was not fair enough. Although everything that happened in the afcon final between Morocco and Senegal was a plan work between the referee and the Moroccans. Moroccans were so eager to win that afcon tournament by all means. They were even showing it in their behaviours. Because how on earth will a country and their team choose to focus on nwabali's tower and Mendy's tower instead of focusing how they can win the afcon tournament. Frankly speaking the Moroccans are a big disgrace to Africa football, and they should never host any afcon tournament again.

It's clear there were strong emotions on both sides. Senegal ultimately won the match 1-0 in extra time, with Pape Gueye scoring the decisive goal. The aftermath saw CAF clearing the referee, Jean-Jacques Ndala, of wrongdoing, while Morocco's coach, Walid Regragui, described the scenes as shameful. The AFCON final between Morocco and Senegal was indeed intense, with controversy surrounding the penalty awarded to Morocco. Senegal's coach, Pape Thiaw, felt strongly about the decision, leading his team to temporarily walk off the pitch in protest. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) later sanctioned both teams

The confederation of African football was right about that decision of sanctioning both teams. Some people don't understand the essence of football. Football isn't all about winning,  both Senegal and Cameroon don't understand the importance of CAF. The competition was to foster unity and not the other way round.
The Senegal coach made a big mistake by telling his players to leave the pitch while match was still on going and I think this the first time this kind of thing is happening.

CAF's decision to sanction both Senegal and Morocco seems fair, considering the chaotic scenes during the AFCON final. The walk-off by Senegal's players and the overall behavior of both teams didn't exactly promote the unity and sportsmanship CAF aims for,

Senegal's coach, Pape Thiaw, received a five-match ban and a $100,000 fine for his role in the incident. Morocco was also fined $315,000 for various infractions, including ball boys' misconduct and fan behavior.

[Davidvictorson]

CAF's decision to sanction both Senegal and Morocco seems fair, considering the chaotic scenes during the AFCON final. The walk-off by Senegal's players and the overall behavior of both teams didn't exactly promote the unity and sportsmanship CAF aims for,

Senegal's coach, Pape Thiaw, received a five-match ban and a $100,000 fine for his role in the incident. Morocco was also fined $315,000 for various infractions, including ball boys' misconduct and fan behavior.

Good but judgement. However, I am still happy that Senegal advocated for themselves. If they hadn't walked off that pitch they will forever have regretted it because that cup would have been stolen from them as a result of very poor officiating. Morrocco should be cautioned over again and again to tell their fans to stop directing lasers lights to the eyes of their opponents. This is another thing that should be looked into by CAF.

[Mayor of ogba]

Some people are just saying things without fact. Well everyone is entitled to there opinion, I wonder why some people will think that CAF was favouring Morocco. Even if was a misunderstanding in the way the referee was officiating the matches. Despite the misunderstanding between Morocco and Senegal on the day of the final what Senegal did was wrong to have worked out of the field . So I don't see CAF favouring any country.

You don't need fact or proof for you  to know that CAF was favoring Morocco in the just concluded African Cup of Nations. If you had watched Morocco's matches, you would have known that CAF wanted Morocco to win the African Cup of Nations, and that was what triggered Senegal's coach to ask his men to walk out of the field so that it could be easier for Morocco to win the African Cup of Nations.

[EL MOHA]

Good but judgement. However, I am still happy that Senegal advocated for themselves. If they hadn't walked off that pitch they will forever have regretted it because that cup would have been stolen from them as a result of very poor officiating. Morrocco should be cautioned over again and again to tell their fans to stop directing lasers lights to the eyes of their opponents. This is another thing that should be looked into by CAF.

Although it was a timely something I would still praise Sadio Mane for actually going to bring back all the players on to the pitch for the game to continue, that was sportmanship at the highest level because had they walked off and never return then it will be a huge catastrophe for their nation because I am very sure that sanctions will be extended beyond just CAF but even FIFA will have to seriously punish them, they might even lose their World Cup qualification place and some players would have gotten banned that even Club football would be stopped too, so it was just ok that it ended the way it did.

As for Laser I think the CAF officials have not done much of anything to stop this from happening every time because this has been a very long term issue with the Northern Africa side all as the culprit, I think a strong no fans into the stadium ban will be one thing which they will obey themselves

[Iroh]

CAF's decision to sanction both Senegal and Morocco seems fair, considering the chaotic scenes during the AFCON final. The walk-off by Senegal's players and the overall behavior of both teams didn't exactly promote the unity and sportsmanship CAF aims for,

Senegal's coach, Pape Thiaw, received a five-match ban and a $100,000 fine for his role in the incident. Morocco was also fined $315,000 for various infractions, including ball boys' misconduct and fan behavior.

The sanctions received by both countries is fair and totally welcomed in my opinion. It was somewhat of a wild situation as you barely see a cup final where we see a coach have its players leave the field when the game is still on. While I can understand the frustrations faced by the Senegalese leading to that point, the decision taken to leave the field was plainly wrong and is now rightly sanctioned.
Morocco also rightly faced sanctions following the shameful misconduct of their ball boys, some officials and players as well as the behavior of their fans. They were using laser pointers to try and distract their opponents goalie during gameplay. Such conduct doesn't tell well on the qualities that football stands for.

[ColdLava40]

CAF's decision to sanction both Senegal and Morocco seems fair, considering the chaotic scenes during the AFCON final. The walk-off by Senegal's players and the overall behavior of both teams didn't exactly promote the unity and sportsmanship CAF aims for,

Senegal's coach, Pape Thiaw, received a five-match ban and a $100,000 fine for his role in the incident. Morocco was also fined $315,000 for various infractions, including ball boys' misconduct and fan behavior.

These games were organised to bring unity amongst African countries, but it usually turns out to be something else.. I still remember the last scenario where Nigeria super eagles were locked in an airport for hrs for no reason..

it just doesn't make much sense why they go to such extents.i think caf would have to do more on educating these nations participating on the idea of unity. We can't always e having such headlines after various cups..

The judgement is well served and should go a long way for them. It will also send a message to others..

[Donneski]

There's a breaking news that the deputy minister of sport of South Africa has announced that South Africa will host the 2026 CAF Women African Cup Of Nations just less than 60 days before kickoff. Morocco was supposed to host the tournament and everyone has been looking forward to the tournament that was supposed to kick off on 17th March.
If this happens to be true, then, the leadership of CAF should resign because I haven't seen where a major continental tournament is being awarded to a host in less than 60 days. I'll be reading more about it to confirm the authenticity of the news.

[Lida93]

AFCON have come and gone and we are still hearing funny and irrelevant complaints that doesn't help the reputation of African football, this complaint that I'm hearing about regarding stealing of towel and witchcraft is really ridiculous.

Everything about African is just always different, other people are playing peaceful football, but when it comes to Africa everything is always different, and you going to start hearing some crazy things which you are not suppose to hear. Things like this are just spoiling our reputation in Africa.

How will you be playing football and you going to be accusing your opponent of using a Vodoo, if not in Africa where are you going to hear things like this happen? It’s better we just stop behaviors like this, and start playing normal football, don’t even believe in things like that. Saying it in public that a particular country makes use of Vodoo just makes me weak.

Well when you say ALWAYS then I think you're overblowing it in your words about what transpired during the AFCON in Morocco. Although this has being one of the awful organized AFCON I have ever watched which partly was caused by the behaviours of the hosting nation and part by CAF themselves. There has being many previous AFCON tournaments hosted by other countries and it wasn't compulsory that the host nations made it appear mandatory in their actions that they must win the tournament.

In the speculation of a voodoo I think such things doesn't have a place in sports and doesn't affect results as well. Those were just allegations by some persons just to propagate irrelevant controversy in the games.

[Accardo]

Nwabali the formidable Nigerian goal keeper is gathering offers from Tanzanian Giants Simba to replace their knee injured goalkeeper. His stay at Chippa is about to end on 30th June 2026 and he is unsure of renewing his contract due to the poor performance of the club in the South African Premiership. Nwabali's high commendable performance in the AFCON has attracted deals from different parts of the globe kicking him into more competitive leagues.

[Roseline492]

Nwabali the formidable Nigerian goal keeper is gathering offers from Tanzanian Giants Simba to replace their knee injured goalkeeper. His stay at Chippa is about to end on 30th June 2026 and he is unsure of renewing his contract due to the poor performance of the club in the South African Premiership. Nwabali's high commendable performance in the AFCON has attracted deals from different parts of the globe kicking him into more competitive leagues.

The quality of Nwabali is beyond Africa, by performance that goalkeeper will keep well than so many of premier League goalkeepers, he might not have too many years and professional experience but if he gets there he would outperformed goalkeepers, luck of being identified is what is remaining for him, maybe the foreign international clubs doesn't watch AFCON that well for not noticing him till now, he is a goalkeeper with strong belief and any keeper who doesn't believe a player would use there talent in him will be confident all time. If Tanzanian Simba sign him he would become more than the intention the club has for him into there first keeper.

[Accardo]

The quality of Nwabali is beyond Africa, by performance that goalkeeper will keep well than so many of premier League goalkeepers, he might not have too many years and professional experience but if he gets there he would outperformed goalkeepers, luck of being identified is what is remaining for him, maybe the foreign international clubs doesn't watch AFCON that well for not noticing him till now, he is a goalkeeper with strong belief and any keeper who doesn't believe a player would use there talent in him will be confident all time. If Tanzanian Simba sign him he would become more than the intention the club has for him into there first keeper.

He recorded four clean sheets in seven games during the Afcon and saved 62 percent of the shots fired at him in the league, the club Chippa is in a terrible shape leading to the fine goalkeeper conceding a lot of goals, he has conceded about 16 goals in 11 matches, he needs a team with strong players to help build up the expertise and confidence in him to retain a valuable goal keeping skill. However, He's respected for his potentials with the super Eagles, which revs up his accomplishments to be highly commendable and attractive.

[Frankolala]

Nwabali the formidable Nigerian goal keeper is gathering offers from Tanzanian Giants Simba to replace their knee injured goalkeeper. His stay at Chippa is about to end on 30th June 2026 and he is unsure of renewing his contract due to the poor performance of the club in the South African Premiership. Nwabali's high commendable performance in the AFCON has attracted deals from different parts of the globe kicking him into more competitive leagues.

The quality of Nwabali is beyond Africa, by performance that goalkeeper will keep well than so many of premier League goalkeepers, he might not have too many years and professional experience but if he gets there he would outperformed goalkeepers, luck of being identified is what is remaining for him, maybe the foreign international clubs doesn't watch AFCON that well for not noticing him till now, he is a goalkeeper with strong belief and any keeper who doesn't believe a player would use there talent in him will be confident all time. If Tanzanian Simba sign him he would become more than the intention the club has for him into there first keeper.

You are partially right with Nwabali competency. However, it's not that EPL clubs ain't watching the AFCON games but they haven't seen much potentials in him which is why they haven't shown any interest in him. Nwabali is a goalkeeper that plays on the field with the ball due to overconfidence and that has made many people to raise their eye brows on him. If only he can be 100% serious on the field and avoid those careless mistakes.

[Roseline492]

The quality of Nwabali is beyond Africa, by performance that goalkeeper will keep well than so many of premier League goalkeepers, he might not have too many years and professional experience but if he gets there he would outperformed goalkeepers, luck of being identified is what is remaining for him, maybe the foreign international clubs doesn't watch AFCON that well for not noticing him till now, he is a goalkeeper with strong belief and any keeper who doesn't believe a player would use there talent in him will be confident all time. If Tanzanian Simba sign him he would become more than the intention the club has for him into there first keeper.

He recorded four clean sheets in seven games during the Afcon and saved 62 percent of the shots fired at him in the league, the club Chippa is in a terrible shape leading to the fine goalkeeper conceding a lot of goals, he has conceded about 16 goals in 11 matches, he needs a team with strong players to help build up the expertise and confidence in him to retain a valuable goal keeping skill. However, He's respected for his potentials with the super Eagles, which revs up his accomplishments to be highly commendable and attractive.

Chippa has goalkeeper but doesn't have players, every goalkeeper hates conceding a lot of goals because people could add it when they want to no how he was doing on the club he left so conceding 16 in few matches will make them think that goalkeeper was very faulty and incapable, they will not think a bit that players did not try for him that's why he was conceding that much. Nwabali inability of getting awarding is because of were they stopped because those clean sheet didn't come on attempted to him but he saved even some we were thinking has already conceded.

[Doan9269]

CAF's decision to sanction both Senegal and Morocco seems fair, considering the chaotic scenes during the AFCON final. The walk-off by Senegal's players and the overall behavior of both teams didn't exactly promote the unity and sportsmanship CAF aims for,

Senegal's coach, Pape Thiaw, received a five-match ban and a $100,000 fine for his role in the incident. Morocco was also fined $315,000 for various infractions, including ball boys' misconduct and fan behavior.

Good but judgement. However, I am still happy that Senegal advocated for themselves. If they hadn't walked off that pitch they will forever have regretted it because that cup would have been stolen from them as a result of very poor officiating. Morrocco should be cautioned over again and again to tell their fans to stop directing lasers lights to the eyes of their opponents. This is another thing that should be looked into by CAF.

More security checks should be adopted during matches like this to prevent fans coming in with any harmful devices that could distort the organization and performance of the players, so they should see this as a weak point from their end and try to walk towards how such things could be prevented from this fans, coming to the pitch as a fan with a laser light does not benefit the team they supported and could also cause a serious distortion when things go wrong from the intended target and everyone gets affected as a result, do you think that happened lastly wasn't what can be right about to be honest and that is why I will always support the sanction that was issued.