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

[Rruchi man]

In the face of injustice, I'm one of those people who will also walk away without hesitation and with my full chest.

Walking away was an emotional reaction from the Senegalese coach, and that was not the best way to react because acting emotionally shows that he was not in control of his emotions, which is not the best for a manager.
We can justify that the Senegalese had a right to be angry at the penalty decision, but walking away was not the best; it would have cost them the competition and even more had Sadio Mane not kept a cool head.

he will remain a huge role model to other young Africans in the face of injustice.

He shouldn't; Mane should rather be the role model.

[Mr Reporter]

Honestly speaking putting all full trust on the super eagles was the last thing on my mind at that moment because this had to me last season where….they made us paid and rest,well I not to you blame them that much even since they took 3rd day it was really not easy but still made us proud and happy, they’re many I would to God thank.

It was a sad moments for all Nigerian because the place we wanted them to finish was the first place but it happens they didn't make that far. I still celebrated them for winning the bronze medals. We should be celebrating the super eagles because it is not easy to win bronze medals,24 countries participated in the AFCON  and the Super Eagles were among the best three teams in the tournament who won a medal. Nigeria and Senegal truly represent west Africa well.

Honestly speaking I still say the super eagles where at their best game this season and for once they got to this this point and I think it already a start for them, I feel next time they can do better and more importantly i feel the season them should do most better than this last season….well even though 24 countries participated in the AFCON and we are still up there it really such a great news to here them make this far…this is now a starting point and the super eagles where really at their best…..

[Localhostspeed]

In the face of injustice, I'm one of those people who will also walk away without hesitation and with my full chest.

Walking away was an emotional reaction from the Senegalese coach, and that was not the best way to react because acting emotionally shows that he was not in control of his emotions, which is not the best for a manager.
We can justify that the Senegalese had a right to be angry at the penalty decision, but walking away was not the best; it would have cost them the competition and even more had Sadio Mane not kept a cool head.

That's what many coaches do when they don't have any means to lend their voice and they were been cheated right in front of everyone. Mane that was chearing them to come back to the field was once annoyed by Sane and he broke his nose in the locker room. He was suspended from playing some games and was later sold out to Al Nasr. I don't think anyone can says his reaction was not justified when he was been cheated right in front of everyone including Fifa president.

he will remain a huge role model to other young Africans in the face of injustice.

He shouldn't; Mane should rather be the role model.

Maybe he was interested in the game and want to win the tournament. If they were losing the match, I'm sure he was going to walk away. Thr only saving grace was that the penalty turned out to be the most worst ever penalty taken this year or may be in the history of Afcon. For Morocco to lose this match and everyone was happy shows that the rigging was too obvious, the classism of Fifa is getting exposed gradually.

[Nightwatchmare]

CAF begins to take punitive measures against Players and Referees who defaulted during the just-concluded AFCON tournament, which was held in Morocco.
~snip~

Good to know that CAF has investigated the Nigeria versus Algeria match and gave punishment defaulters accordingly, at least they have started from somewhere while we await for the outcome of investigation from other teams, players, and referees that engaged in match misconduct. I said it earlier that it's not only Morocco that will be punished, other countries will also follow suit in order to enhance fair play in future AFCON competition.

I saw the punishment and fine CAF placed on Algeria players on facebook yesterday, for their misconduct in their game against the super eagles of Nigeria in the Afcon quarter finals, and i was so happy with the CAF's verdict on Algeria because it shows that there is no space for nonsense behavior in the Afcon tournament and it will also promote peace and unity in the upcoming Afcon tournaments. Since CAF has investigated the Algeria and Nigeria game, they should now investigate the Morocco vs Nigeria and Senegal vs Morocco games so that they can find out the reason why Morocco's ball boys, stewards, and players were so interested in taking goalkeepers' towels in the Afcon tournament, and CAF should also fine Morocco for their misconduct in the games i mentioned above so that such thing will not happen again in the upcoming Afcon tournaments.

[Iroh]

There are also those that expected the AFCON as consolation for not getting to the World Cup; third position is not exactly consoling.

Yeah, I totally get it. I too was really disappointed Nigeria didn't qualify for the world cup.  With the players the super eagles currently has on the team, i think Nigeria ought to have qualified for the world cup and it's quite sad that we couldn't qualify. So yeah, it's no surprise that people would want the super eagles to excel and win the AFCON tournament as a consolation for not making it to the biggest international football tournament, the world cup.
But as much as we would have loved to qualify for the world cup, we didn't. What we've got is the 3rd spot on the AFCON tournament. That would have to do for now as we move on and make better preparations for the next tournament.

[Jaycoinz]

Honestly speaking putting all full trust on the super eagles was the last thing on my mind at that moment because this had to me last season where….they made us paid and rest,well I not to you blame them that much even since they took 3rd day it was really not easy but still made us proud and happy, they’re many I would to God thank.

It was a sad moments for all Nigerian because the place we wanted them to finish was the first place but it happens they didn't make that far. I still celebrated them for winning the bronze medals. We should be celebrating the super eagles because it is not easy to win bronze medals,24 countries participated in the AFCON  and the Super Eagles were among the best three teams in the tournament who won a medal. Nigeria and Senegal truly represent west Africa well.

Honestly speaking I still say the super eagles where at their best game this season and for once they got to this this point and I think it already a start for them, I feel next time they can do better and more importantly i feel the season them should do most better than this last season….well even though 24 countries participated in the AFCON and we are still up there it really such a great news to here them make this far…this is now a starting point and the super eagles where really at their best…..

The super eagles under chille were absolutely amazing although they were a bit slow in the performance for them to actually pick up the form because if they actually played the were they played in the AFCON it would have been certain that they would qualify for the world cup but it was so sad that they couldn't just pick up the pace at it. For now, there won't be any major competition for them to play anymore so the only time they would be performing would be for friendly games.

[Fivestar4everMVP]

There are also those that expected the AFCON as consolation for not getting to the World Cup; third position is not exactly consoling.

Yeah, I totally get it. I too was really disappointed Nigeria didn't qualify for the world cup.  With the players the super eagles currently has on the team, i think Nigeria ought to have qualified for the world cup and it's quite sad that we couldn't qualify. So yeah, it's no surprise that people would want the super eagles to excel and win the AFCON tournament as a consolation for not making it to the biggest international football tournament, the world cup.
But as much as we would have loved to qualify for the world cup, we didn't. What we've got is the 3rd spot on the AFCON tournament. That would have to do for now as we move on and make better preparations for the next tournament.

Nigeria and the super eagles were eyeing and hoping to win the afcon as a consolation for not qualifying for the world cup, and I ask, on what ground exactly?
Were they thinking that other countries and their team that came out to play in the afcon tournament weren't there to win the afcon too?

The super eagles should make do of their third place and go and rest, we got what we deserved in the afcon and if the super eagles players really wanted to qualify for the world cup, they would have, it's annoying seeing countries with worst football team than Nigeria going for the world cup while we (Nigerians) just sit at home and watch others play, when we talk about the world cup, our super eagles disappointed us and it's the reality, even if they ended up winning the afcon, it still would have been very disappointing not seeing them in the world cup..

[Joy_learns_crypto]

The super eagles under chille were absolutely amazing although they were a bit slow in the performance for them to actually pick up the form because if they actually played the were they played in the AFCON it would have been certain that they would qualify for the world cup but it was so sad that they couldn't just pick up the pace at it. For now, there won't be any major competition for them to play anymore so the only time they would be performing would be for friendly games.

This is why Nigeria national team is where they are because we want to wait for a completion to be near before we can rebuild our team.
Nigeria is not going far in the World Cup even if we did not qualify, Coach Chille has been good but I knew Nigeria was not going to win the Afcon. This international competition exemption interval will help Nigeria to rebuild.

[Baki202]

Yeah, I totally get it. I too was really disappointed Nigeria didn't qualify for the world cup.  With the players the super eagles currently has on the team, i think Nigeria ought to have qualified for the world cup and it's quite sad that we couldn't qualify. So yeah, it's no surprise that people would want the super eagles to excel and win the AFCON tournament as a consolation for not making it to the biggest international football tournament, the world cup.

A lot of people were not happy at all even me personally i was not happy that Nigerian did not qualify for the World Cup we all hoped that Nigeria should have been able to qualify for the World Cup but since not your such happened there's nothing anybody can do about it that will accept it the way it have played out already the only thing that can happen now is for them to be prepared for the next World Cup at least they didn't qualify for the World Cup but they will put to win the third place in the African cup of nation which is also not a bad move at all they try their best let's give them the acknowledgment. And a lot of things happened during the African Cup of nation that is why it became difficult for them to win the trophy so they tried their best that is all I could see for now.

But as much as we would have loved to qualify for the world cup, we didn't. What we've got is the 3rd spot on the AFCON tournament. That would have to do for now as we move on and make better preparations for the next tournament.

Everyone wanted Nigerian to qualify for the World Cup but since he did not happen that way there is nothing anybody could do than to accept that Nigeria did not qualify and even the third place a lot of countries we are not able to make it to that level so I think Nigeria should be applauded for that because it is not actually easy playing on the pitch even if they are paid just to satisfy the fans and I know that next time in Nigeria will do better this is just the beginning.

[Wakate]

Sincerely speaking we must learn how to encourage players, at the beginning of the competition, since we lost out in the World Cup qualifiers, a lot of people did not have high expectation of the super Eagles, but as the competition was progressing we saw how effective their impact was and they gathered the lot of support as people started paying attention to what they are playing, but it's unfortunate that we did not win the first position as we all thought.

Our responsibility as fans and supporters is not to encourage the players because they don't even know you or what your opinion could be. It is the responsibility of the coach and team to multiple themselves and continue with new achievements.
How do you want to encourage people that don't even know if you exist or not? The best is to agitate, give your opinion leave the rest.

[Abdulzuruku01]

Honestly speaking I still say the super eagles where at their best game this season and for once they got to this this point and I think it already a start for them, I feel next time they can do better and more importantly i feel the season them should do most better than this last season….well even though 24 countries participated in the AFCON and we are still up there it really such a great news to here them make this far…this is now a starting point and the super eagles where really at their best…..

The Super Eagles performance was impressive in this AFCON. How I wish that was how they played in the World Cup qualifiers and qualified on their own, it would've been better than all the stories we're hearing of getting another African country banned because of their offense to give the Super Eagles a spot.

Although I don't know how true it is, but I don't think that's possible. I still see the Super Eagles fault for not participating well because their performance was very disappointing in world cup qualifiers, which made many Nigerians lose trust in them. Honestly I never expected that great performance from them in this AFCON they really tried.

[Sandra_hakeem]

Everything was done to destabilize Senegal. The Senegalese players didn't know where to train even the day before. The whole team was given only 5 officers as security. CAF's decision to award Morocco the Fair play team of the Tournament is deeply disappointing and difficult to justify. Throughout the competition, CAF appeared to tolerate and in some cases, enable unsportsmanlike conduct by Moroccan officials and players, without issuing meaningful sanctions.

There were repeated incidents that directly contradicted the principles of fair play. These included Moroccan match officials and players interfering with Nigerian and Senegalese goalkeepers by removing their towels. Notable examples include the cancellation of Senegal's legitimate goal and the unjustified penalty that was awarded to Morocco.

[Ndabagi01]

There are also those that expected the AFCON as consolation for not getting to the World Cup; third position is not exactly consoling.

Yeah, I totally get it. I too was really disappointed Nigeria didn't qualify for the world cup.  With the players the super eagles currently has on the team, i think Nigeria ought to have qualified for the world cup and it's quite sad that we couldn't qualify. So yeah, it's no surprise that people would want the super eagles to excel and win the AFCON tournament as a consolation for not making it to the biggest international football tournament, the world cup.
But as much as we would have loved to qualify for the world cup, we didn't. What we've got is the 3rd spot on the AFCON tournament. That would have to do for now as we move on and make better preparations for the next tournament.

Nigeria not being able to qualify for the World Cup and also not winning the AFCON trophy will really make some Nigerians not happy with the results at all. But one thing we should focus more on is learning from the past and not linger onto it for a very long time because it won’t make us to forge ahead and think of the bigger picture ahead of us which is really the most important thing we should be discussing about.

Yes we could not make it to the world cup despite the good squad we have now that could actually make us even do better in the World Cup.  They did well in the AFCON competition and could have won it also, so it is something commendable that they’ve improved better than they were when playing in the world cup qualifiers. The next tournament Nigeria will be participating in will further tell us how they’ve improved as a team from this AFCON tournament till then.

[IceLincoln]

In the face of injustice, I'm one of those people who will also walk away without hesitation and with my full chest.

Walking away was an emotional reaction from the Senegalese coach, and that was not the best way to react because acting emotionally shows that he was not in control of his emotions, which is not the best for a manager.
We can justify that the Senegalese had a right to be angry at the penalty decision, but walking away was not the best; it would have cost them the competition and even more had Sadio Mane not kept a cool head.

he will remain a huge role model to other young Africans in the face of injustice.

He shouldn't; Mane should rather be the role model.

Yeah I must Commend Sadio Mane for how he composed himself that day, for sure he’s a role model to alot of young lads all over Africa and the World at large. Mane is a very disciplined player and person, his work ethics is commendable. I know we might have seen him loose his cool once or twice but what he did on that day showed class, maturity and self control cos the attitudes and decisions of the match officials was really something else, enough to warrant such reactions.

[Wakate]

Everything was done to destabilize Senegal. The Senegalese players didn't know where to train even the day before. The whole team was given only 5 officers as security. CAF's decision to award Morocco the Fair play team of the Tournament is deeply disappointing and difficult to justify. Throughout the competition, CAF appeared to tolerate and in some cases, enable unsportsmanlike conduct by Moroccan officials and players, without issuing meaningful sanctions.

You can not sanction the host country like the way you might think. You can only sanction them when they purposely behave in a manner that is obviously unacceptable. I know that cheating was see in the several of the matches but it can still be over looked since it was not noticed by the observers even if they denied it that their is nothing like cheating in those matches.

[SatoPrincess]

That's what many coaches do when they don't have any means to lend their voice and they were been cheated right in front of everyone.

Many coaches? This is not the norm. It’s actually the first time I’m seeing this happen in an international tournament or even club football.

Maybe he was interested in the game and want to win the tournament. If they were losing the match, I'm sure he was going to walk away.

You don’t know that. Everyone in the Senegalese team wanted to win the final, and were upset about how the ref was going about the game. Mane was just the bigger person that day.

the classism of Fifa is getting exposed gradually.

Classism??

[Mayor of ogba]

I just saw an article that Morocco have filed a complaint to FIFA over Senegal walk-out during the final. According to FIFA rules, the penalty is a 3 nil forfeit. What do you think will happen, and would you think it’s fair if FIFA awards the trophy to Morocco because referee bias or not, Senegal was wrong to walk off the pitch.

I'm not surprised that Morocco has filed a complaint to FIFA over Senegal walking out of the field in the final because Morocco is desperate to win the model African Cup of Nations, and even though FIFA awarded the African Cup of Nations to Morocco, a lot of African countries won't recognize Morocco as the winner of the 2025 African Cup of Nations. I will always back Senegal for walking out of the field in the final because that singular act stopped Morocco from trying to use the back door to win the African Cup of Nations.

[Ale88]

You don't have to be happy about a third position, even the country that took the second position was never happy with their performance and you are choosing happiness over failure for the super eagle to have delivered and play with Senegal at the final.
You don't have to be over joyful for nothing second or third position is not being recognized at all relating to countries that have carry the AFCON.

I disagree with this type of thinking: in every sport there is only one winner, so should we consider everybody but the winner as losers? Nigeria were coming for a big failure after missing the WC playoffs, now they managed to reach the third place, which is a respectable result. There were better teams than Nigeria, that is a fact. Or were you expecting Nigeria to win?

The truth is that Nigerians does not regard third place as an achievement again because even when our super eagles are terribly bad, they still managed to come out third, so with the improvement seen from our super eagles during the tournament, I honestly expect them to win it, but they failed on that regard, but I still can't call it a major success even though it looks like a successful afcon campaign. Just that coming out third now looks normal to Nigerians, since they hardly goes to the afcon and comes back empty handed.

There is nothing as such thing as a successful AFCON tournament from Super Eagles, because I don’t know a team that celebrates a third place finish, well you could see that the Nigerian Government didn’t give them any reception, they all went home from there camp, and immediately there various clubs have to pick them all up to Europe, I think there is nothing successful in the AFCON from them, there was obviously not a good performance in the AFCON, well I could say they played well against Algeria that is the only standout game that I saw from the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Third Place is absolutely nothing when it comes to big Tournaments like the AFCON and the World Cup, I don’t think there is anything like a third place in Europe Competitions.

Let me rephrase my thoughts: I'm not saying that Nigeria should celebrate the third place, in football third place doesn't require any celebration unless you are an underdog. But I can't call a third place a failure because Nigeria weren't the best team. Senegal and Morocco were for sure better than Nigeria for example. It's been a good result at the end.

[Futurexxx]

I just saw an article that Morocco have filed a complaint to FIFA over Senegal walk-out during the final. According to FIFA rules, the penalty is a 3 nil forfeit. What do you think will happen, and would you think it’s fair if FIFA awards the trophy to Morocco because referee bias or not, Senegal was wrong to walk off the pitch.

I'm not surprised that Morocco has filed a complaint to FIFA over Senegal walking out of the field in the final because Morocco is desperate to win the model African Cup of Nations, and even though FIFA awarded the African Cup of Nations to Morocco, a lot of African countries won't recognize Morocco as the winner of the 2025 African Cup of Nations. I will always back Senegal for walking out of the field in the final because that singular act stopped Morocco from trying to use the back door to win the African Cup of Nations.

According to the statement of the Senegalese coach, he said that even though they had lost the game after they returned into the pitch, the walking out was meant to send a strong message across to caf that African football is not used to robbery of this magnitude, and that they wouldn't accept it by stay silent, hoping to complain after they have lost the trophy, so it was a protest that is worth it.
The Moroccans may have file a complaint or do what ever they wishes afterwards, but it can never change the fact that Senegal are the recognized champions regardless of the final decision of caf.

[Mayor of ogba]

You don't have to be happy about a third position, even the country that took the second position was never happy with their performance and you are choosing happiness over failure for the super eagle to have delivered and play with Senegal at the final.
You don't have to be over joyful for nothing second or third position is not being recognized at all relating to countries that have carry the AFCON.

I disagree with this type of thinking: in every sport there is only one winner, so should we consider everybody but the winner as losers? Nigeria were coming for a big failure after missing the WC playoffs, now they managed to reach the third place, which is a respectable result. There were better teams than Nigeria, that is a fact. Or were you expecting Nigeria to win?

The truth is that Nigerians does not regard third place as an achievement again because even when our super eagles are terribly bad, they still managed to come out third, so with the improvement seen from our super eagles during the tournament, I honestly expect them to win it, but they failed on that regard, but I still can't call it a major success even though it looks like a successful afcon campaign. Just that coming out third now looks normal to Nigerians, since they hardly goes to the afcon and comes back empty handed.

There is nothing as such thing as a successful AFCON tournament from Super Eagles, because I don’t know a team that celebrates a third place finish, well you could see that the Nigerian Government didn’t give them any reception, they all went home from there camp, and immediately there various clubs have to pick them all up to Europe, I think there is nothing successful in the AFCON from them, there was obviously not a good performance in the AFCON, well I could say they played well against Algeria that is the only standout game that I saw from the Super Eagles of Nigeria, Third Place is absolutely nothing when it comes to big Tournaments like the AFCON and the World Cup, I don’t think there is anything like a third place in Europe Competitions.

I agree with you that there's nothing special about the Super Eagles finishing third place in the just concluded African Cup of Nations, but I totally disagree with you for saying the Super Eagles didn't perform well in the African Cup of Nations because this set of Super Eagles players, this is the African Cup of Nations or tournament they performed so well that they dominated most of their opponents in ball possession and also scored a lot of goals easily, and if not for some Super Eagles players messing up during the penalty shootout against Morocco, the Super Eagles would have played in the final. I don't know if you have anything with the Super Eagles because you have been talking down on the Super Eagles and discrediting their good efforts in the African Cup of Nations. I think you should try and make peace with the Super Eagles so you can see how good the Super Eagles are playing right now.