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

[knowngunman]

Thanks for sharing. I never knew Morocco was so big on voodoo practices. read a post here sometime ago that a voodoo was arrested for failing to make the national team win despite the money given to him by the government. I don’t believe that voodoo works in football, I mean if it did work, African countries would have been dominating the World Cup.

In the whole of Africa, West African countries are the top ten in such practice, but this isn't worth bragging about though  

Maybe voodoo does work, that is why Morocco was snatching keeper towels, they might have thought we had stuff going on.

It is also about belief, football is supposed to be a fair sport, such practices won't work.

Hey SatoPrincess, what do you mean by voodoo got arrested? Is voodoo now a person? Or you mean to say the man that did voodoo for them got arrested after the voodoo failed to work? Voodoo is a practice and not a person as far as I know.

If you think voodoo doesn't work, I will invite you someday to come and watch our local tournament here and testify for yourself whether it does work or not 

It doesn't work in the world cup because Oyibo is the master of voodoo and their own superseded African magic. Haven't you wondered why juju doesn't work in bank? It's the same reason why it doesn't work in football outside our own region. It's sad they're now doing it the black way instead of making it a fair game.

[Spaceman1000$]

One thing I learnt during the AFCON is that FIFA representatives were there during the semi-finals down to the finals, which I know after overseeing everything that happened over there, they wont allow such to happen in the FIFA World Cup.

Yesterday, I managed to watch the CAF Champions League, only for me to see that the same pattern of taking a towel from the goalkeeper happened there. It seems it all started from there, and CAF has not done anything to stop that nonsense.

There can be some countries FIFA can favor to win the World Cup, but Morocco isn't one of those countries, so Morocco doesn't have what it takes to bend the referee that will officiate in the World Cup to favor them. For CAF not to condemn, fine, and sanction Morocco for taking Mendy's and Nwabali's towel in the African Cup of Nations is the reason why such scenario happened in the CAF Champions League, because the home team that took the towel of the goalkeeper of the away team knows that CAF won't fine and sanction them for that.

the only thing i noticed in this period is that it seems they wanted the host country to win, but it wont be that easy because it is something you have to work for and Morocco did everything but the once's that are not right just to win the league, and CAF knew about everything that played out and since they were not sanctioned, especially the referees, and they need to make correction of things like this because next time don't be surprised to see the same thing playing out because a lot of things were not corrected and you will never seen things like this happening in the world cup but it was tolerated by even the football body and they should talk about this so it does not repeat it self.

I think Morocco and Senegal has been adequately sanctioned by CAF, the seliganese  coach has been given five CAF band and a fine of $100,000, and I also read somewhere that the ball boys for Morocco have also received some sanction, but in all of these the umpire which are the referees are not sanctioned which is a cause of concern, because in the heat of the arguments in that game, the number one person that I think cost the disaffection among the two teams was the referee, and yet CAF didn't do anything about that.

[Fiatless]

Hey SatoPrincess, what do you mean by voodoo got arrested? Is voodoo now a person? Or you mean to say the man that did voodoo for them got arrested after the voodoo failed to work? Voodoo is a practice and not a person as far as I know.

If you think voodoo doesn't work, I will invite you someday to come and watch our local tournament here and testify for yourself whether it does work or not 

It doesn't work in the world cup because Oyibo is the master of voodoo and their own superseded African magic. Haven't you wondered why juju doesn't work in bank? It's the same reason why it doesn't work in football outside our own region. It's sad they're now doing it the black way instead of making it a fair game.

He was referring to the Malian native doctor who was arrested for the failure of his prophecy that Mali would win the African Cup of Nations.  He collected about €33,500 from people and guaranteed that Mali will win the cup.
https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/01/native-doctor-arrested-in-mali-after-collecting-e33500-to-guarantee-afcon-victory/

African traditional religion has some mystical practices that are strange to other practices.  I don't think European voodoo practices are superior to Africa version. Maybe I might visit your area and witness the power of voodoo.

[CryptSafe]

snip

From the investigations, it could be deduced that Senegal got a higher fine than morrocco and it made me more curious as to what really transpired during the investigation process.

It is understandable that the Senegalese team got a higher fine because their players actually reacted a whole lot and the coach lost himself in the situation. I think whatever financial punishment that has been deemed okay for them to pay is good, as long as they have not lost the title.

It would have been a terrible image for African football had the Senegalese players all left the field and refused to play.

Yes thats true that their players and fans actually reacted, which should not have been so, but the truth is that no team would want to be oppressed by their opponents when it comes to matters as such as that was what Morrocco was trying to do but they resisted it and were not intimidated by it irrespective of the fact that they were on the Morroccan soil. They stood their ground and had to defend themselves first, and also won the trophy and damned the consequences.

[Mr Reporter]

One thing I learnt during the AFCON is that FIFA representatives were there during the semi-finals down to the finals, which I know after overseeing everything that happened over there, they wont allow such to happen in the FIFA World Cup.

Yesterday, I managed to watch the CAF Champions League, only for me to see that the same pattern of taking a towel from the goalkeeper happened there. It seems it all started from there, and CAF has not done anything to stop that nonsense.

There can be some countries FIFA can favor to win the World Cup, but Morocco isn't one of those countries, so Morocco doesn't have what it takes to bend the referee that will officiate in the World Cup to favor them. For CAF not to condemn, fine, and sanction Morocco for taking Mendy's and Nwabali's towel in the African Cup of Nations is the reason why such scenario happened in the CAF Champions League, because the home team that took the towel of the goalkeeper of the away team knows that CAF won't fine and sanction them for that.

the only thing i noticed in this period is that it seems they wanted the host country to win, but it wont be that easy because it is something you have to work for and Morocco did everything but the once's that are not right just to win the league, and CAF knew about everything that played out and since they were not sanctioned, especially the referees, and they need to make correction of things like this because next time don't be surprised to see the same thing playing out because a lot of things were not corrected and you will never seen things like this happening in the world cup but it was tolerated by even the football body and they should talk about this so it does not repeat it self.

Infact I hat is really there if the host country didn’t win? Why do they have to come up with such mindset towards the game of football, over so many years that I have be sure to watch so many players and games i feel that foot is some that should be on lucky based and not something that should be given saying it a most for the host country to win the tournament, see i feel the CAF should have a proper check out on this lapses next season because this really affected the super eagles in one way or the others, I feel this are thing that should be taken seriously and noted for simple…infact the AFCON football game should be more interesting for people and fans to watch not adding all this long cheaters around it.

[SatoPrincess]

Hey SatoPrincess, what do you mean by voodoo got arrested? Is voodoo now a person? Or you mean to say the man that did voodoo for them got arrested after the voodoo failed to work? Voodoo is a practice and not a person as far as I know.

If you think voodoo doesn't work, I will invite you someday to come and watch our local tournament here and testify for yourself whether it does work or not 

It doesn't work in the world cup because Oyibo is the master of voodoo and their own superseded African magic. Haven't you wondered why juju doesn't work in bank? It's the same reason why it doesn't work in football outside our own region. It's sad they're now doing it the black way instead of making it a fair game.

I know what voodoo is. Thanks for the education. I was referring to the post below. I’m not even going to argue your point because it’s not a topic I’d consider worth discussing any further.

[Hewlet]

One thing I learnt during the AFCON is that FIFA representatives were there during the semi-finals down to the finals, which I know after overseeing everything that happened over there, they wont allow such to happen in the FIFA World Cup.

Yesterday, I managed to watch the CAF Champions League, only for me to see that the same pattern of taking a towel from the goalkeeper happened there. It seems it all started from there, and CAF has not done anything to stop that nonsense.

There can be some countries FIFA can favor to win the World Cup, but Morocco isn't one of those countries, so Morocco doesn't have what it takes to bend the referee that will officiate in the World Cup to favor them. For CAF not to condemn, fine, and sanction Morocco for taking Mendy's and Nwabali's towel in the African Cup of Nations is the reason why such scenario happened in the CAF Champions League, because the home team that took the towel of the goalkeeper of the away team knows that CAF won't fine and sanction them for that.

the only thing i noticed in this period is that it seems they wanted the host country to win, but it wont be that easy because it is something you have to work for and Morocco did everything but the once's that are not right just to win the league, and CAF knew about everything that played out and since they were not sanctioned, especially the referees, and they need to make correction of things like this because next time don't be surprised to see the same thing playing out because a lot of things were not corrected and you will never seen things like this happening in the world cup but it was tolerated by even the football body and they should talk about this so it does not repeat it self.

Infact I hat is really there if the host country didn’t win? Why do they have to come up with such mindset towards the game of football, over so many years that I have be sure to watch so many players and games i feel that foot is some that should be on lucky based and not something that should be given saying it a most for the host country to win the tournament.

What do you want CAF to do? they should stop host nation from aspiring to win a tournament in the front of their host fans or what? forget that they actually took it a bit extreme, there is nothing wrong when a host nation fights to win a major tournament as this. remember that they where a very good side even when they played against Nigeria. if they had won that final and took the cup, i will still say that they equally deserve the trophy.

The football body has done their due diligence to the matter by rightly sanctioning both teams in a manner we can say that they are actually fare with. there is a lot of things we can take as positives from this edition of the AFCON and even the fighting spirit is an indication that the tournament is becoming more competitive.

[Justbillywitt]

One thing I learnt during the AFCON is that FIFA representatives were there during the semi-finals down to the finals, which I know after overseeing everything that happened over there, they wont allow such to happen in the FIFA World Cup.

Yesterday, I managed to watch the CAF Champions League, only for me to see that the same pattern of taking a towel from the goalkeeper happened there. It seems it all started from there, and CAF has not done anything to stop that nonsense.

There can be some countries FIFA can favor to win the World Cup, but Morocco isn't one of those countries, so Morocco doesn't have what it takes to bend the referee that will officiate in the World Cup to favor them. For CAF not to condemn, fine, and sanction Morocco for taking Mendy's and Nwabali's towel in the African Cup of Nations is the reason why such scenario happened in the CAF Champions League, because the home team that took the towel of the goalkeeper of the away team knows that CAF won't fine and sanction them for that.

There are reports circulating on social media that CAF has finally sanctioned Morocco and Senegal in what happened during the AFCON final. According to information that are circulating on the media, CAF fine Morocco and suspended some players that were found guilty in the towel snatching. Morocco were fined over $300k, while Senegal were fined above $600k, and got some of their players and coach suspended too. There was no way CAF was going to let go of what happened in the final without sanctions.

[Jegileman]

I think Morocco and Senegal has been adequately sanctioned by CAF, the seliganese  coach has been given five CAF band and a fine of $100,000, and I also read somewhere that the ball boys for Morocco have also received some sanction, but in all of these the umpire which are the referees are not sanctioned which is a cause of concern, because in the heat of the arguments in that game, the number one person that I think cost the disaffection among the two teams was the referee, and yet CAF didn't do anything about that.

CAF won’t just sanction the referees like that, if they do so I think there will be come more disagreement and chaos coming further in such tournaments. What I think CAF did was to penalize those that failed to obey the referee because that’s the rule of every football game, the referee is to be obeyed whether he’s wrong or right in his decision making while officiating a game. The referee’s may have caused the mayhem that happened but for the players and coach acting against the referee, the referee will be freed and they will suffer the sanction that was suppose to be given to the referee for poor officiating just because they didn’t obey the referee. I may be wrong though, but this is how I feel they’ve come to conclusion of this.

[Ruttoshi]

The coach of Senegal Pape Thiaw has been banned for five CAF matches. He was guilty of unsporting conduct and bringing the game into disrepute.

Senegalese forwards Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr, who play in the English Premier League, received two-match bans for “unsporting behaviour towards the referee”. A total fine of $615k was given to Senegalese Football Federation.

For “unsporting behaviour”, Moroccan forward Ismael Saibari was handed a three-match ban and a fine of $100,000, while captain and defender Achraf Hakimi was suspended for two matches. The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) was fined $200,000 for the “inappropriate behaviour of the stadium ball boys

You can get the full details of Morocco fine here https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/01/afcon-final-chaos-caf-suspends-hakimi-thiaw-fines-senegal-morocco/

[348Judah]

The coach of Senegal Pape Thiaw has been banned for five CAF matches. He was guilty of unsporting conduct and bringing the game into disrepute.

Senegalese forwards Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr, who play in the English Premier League, received two-match bans for “unsporting behaviour towards the referee”. A total fine of $615k was given to Senegalese Football Federation.

For “unsporting behaviour”, Moroccan forward Ismael Saibari was handed a three-match ban and a fine of $100,000, while captain and defender Achraf Hakimi was suspended for two matches. The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) was fined $200,000 for the “inappropriate behaviour of the stadium ball boys

You can get the full details of Morocco fine here https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/01/afcon-final-chaos-caf-suspends-hakimi-thiaw-fines-senegal-morocco/

Of all the judgment made the only thing I see wrong here is the fact that a fine was permitted to be paid, to me $615, 000 is too small for them not to be able to afford paying and by so doing evade the sanction placed on them, it could have just been that there was no fine at all for them to pay because of the weight in what they have done, because this could implies that if anyone does something similar to this in the future they can also as well afford to pay a charge in ransom for any atrocity committed, therefore I totally go against the fine against them, instead they should serve the terms of their punishment.

[Finebone]

The coach of Senegal Pape Thiaw has been banned for five CAF matches. He was guilty of unsporting conduct and bringing the game into disrepute.

Senegalese forwards Iliman Ndiaye and Ismaila Sarr, who play in the English Premier League, received two-match bans for “unsporting behaviour towards the referee”. A total fine of $615k was given to Senegalese Football Federation.

For “unsporting behaviour”, Moroccan forward Ismael Saibari was handed a three-match ban and a fine of $100,000, while captain and defender Achraf Hakimi was suspended for two matches. The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) was fined $200,000 for the “inappropriate behaviour of the stadium ball boys

You can get the full details of Morocco fine here https://www.vanguardngr.com/2026/01/afcon-final-chaos-caf-suspends-hakimi-thiaw-fines-senegal-morocco/

I largely agree to all the punishment metted out on both teams and their unsporting behavior, but what I disagree on was no punishment handed out to the moroccans on that towel issues and the large fine on the second choice goalkeeper of the Senegalese team.
I still can't understand what he did wrong to be given such huge fine when only what he was doing is to make sure towel is available for Mendy that was in goal, since the moroccans are used to stealing towels.

[Rockson1]

Infact I hat is really there if the host country didn’t win? Why do they have to come up with such mindset towards the game of football, over so many years that I have be sure to watch so many players and games i feel that foot is some that should be on lucky based and not something that should be given saying it a most for the host country to win the tournament, see i feel the CAF should have a proper check out on this lapses next season because this really affected the super eagles in one way or the others, I feel this are thing that should be taken seriously and noted for simple…infact the AFCON football game should be more interesting for people and fans to watch not adding all this long cheaters around it.

Though I understands that luck plays a role in football but hardwork first, luck does not come all the time that is why we do not have to depend on luck in football, every team has to wild very hard, host Nation tries as much as they can to win since they are the host but it is not a must that they will win the title,m after the trophy is something many national teams has to contend for before it is them giving to the winner and it is not luck, rather it is by who wins, you are correct, the AFCON match should not be a competition of those that want to win by applying unnecessary cheating habits, they should not make the competition to be less valued.

[Oshio-man]

snip

From the investigations, it could be deduced that Senegal got a higher fine than morrocco and it made me more curious as to what really transpired during the investigation process.

It is understandable that the Senegalese team got a higher fine because their players actually reacted a whole lot and the coach lost himself in the situation. I think whatever financial punishment that has been deemed okay for them to pay is good, as long as they have not lost the title.

It would have been a terrible image for African football had the Senegalese players all left the field and refused to play.

Yes thats true that their players and fans actually reacted, which should not have been so, but the truth is that no team would want to be oppressed by their opponents when it comes to matters as such as that was what Morrocco was trying to do but they resisted it and were not intimidated by it irrespective of the fact that they were on the Morroccan soil. They stood their ground and had to defend themselves first, and also won the trophy and damned the consequences.

Some people don't know how painful it is when you are be rubbed for victory in a football match, Morocco did it to super eagle of Nigeria to qualified for final that made referee to repeat the same thing for Morocco to win the title but Senegal players refused to allow it to happen than to challenge the referee because they know the whole world is watching the final match, Morocco really wanted to use advantage of host to win the title but Senegal players that know how to play penalty took advantage of penalties shootout to win the title.

[Dunamisx]

Considering football in this aspect of discussion, we have to be more specific about how luck work in some situation and why is the efforts and performance is strongly advice or needed for a teams to succeed their play, another thing to consider is the host country advantage that is the wrong mentality we may be thinking, having that a host country should have more advantage in winning ahead the other country playing away does not work any longer, they have to struggle for the merit and play to win.

[Marykeller]

One thing I learnt during the AFCON is that FIFA representatives were there during the semi-finals down to the finals, which I know after overseeing everything that happened over there, they wont allow such to happen in the FIFA World Cup.

Yesterday, I managed to watch the CAF Champions League, only for me to see that the same pattern of taking a towel from the goalkeeper happened there. It seems it all started from there, and CAF has not done anything to stop that nonsense.

There can be some countries FIFA can favor to win the World Cup, but Morocco isn't one of those countries, so Morocco doesn't have what it takes to bend the referee that will officiate in the World Cup to favor them. For CAF not to condemn, fine, and sanction Morocco for taking Mendy's and Nwabali's towel in the African Cup of Nations is the reason why such scenario happened in the CAF Champions League, because the home team that took the towel of the goalkeeper of the away team knows that CAF won't fine and sanction them for that.

Reading about this drama that is being played out by our African brothers makes me laugh out loud cos we Africans reason things in different ways, like voodoo, as some people think it to be.

For the information, goalkeepers use towels to dry their gloves and the ball, so that they grip and control the ball. Gloves itself are always wet, which makes it to be slippery, making it harder for a goalkeeper to hold the ball. Drying the gloves helps in the goalkeeper's performance.

That's what Mali goalkeeper(Mendy) is doing in the finals of AFCON and Morocco want Mendy to make the mistake of not gripping the ball firmly

[Mr Reporter]

Infact I hat is really there if the host country didn’t win? Why do they have to come up with such mindset towards the game of football, over so many years that I have be sure to watch so many players and games i feel that foot is some that should be on lucky based and not something that should be given saying it a most for the host country to win the tournament, see i feel the CAF should have a proper check out on this lapses next season because this really affected the super eagles in one way or the others, I feel this are thing that should be taken seriously and noted for simple…infact the AFCON football game should be more interesting for people and fans to watch not adding all this long cheaters around it.

Though I understands that luck plays a role in football but hardwork first, luck does not come all the time that is why we do not have to depend on luck in football, every team has to wild very hard, host Nation tries as much as they can to win since they are the host but it is not a must that they will win the title,m after the trophy is something many national teams has to contend for before it is them giving to the winner and it is not luck, rather it is by who wins, you are correct, the AFCON match should not be a competition of those that want to win by applying unnecessary cheating habits, they should not make the competition to be less valued.

Well is you are kind of right through but most time hard works also comes handy to but I feel that some time hard those not play out well on football game most time it deals with luck at times…well fair enough the super eagles this time around didn’t play out on luck this time around their where on their game this season which was a very big jor to see the super eagles guys with so much potential and energy ones again there games was one of the best games I watched all the best times I most say…

[AYOBA]

Infact I hat is really there if the host country didn’t win? Why do they have to come up with such mindset towards the game of football, over so many years that I have be sure to watch so many players and games i feel that foot is some that should be on lucky based and not something that should be given saying it a most for the host country to win the tournament, see i feel the CAF should have a proper check out on this lapses next season because this really affected the super eagles in one way or the others, I feel this are thing that should be taken seriously and noted for simple…infact the AFCON football game should be more interesting for people and fans to watch not adding all this long cheaters around it.

Though I understands that luck plays a role in football but hardwork first, luck does not come all the time that is why we do not have to depend on luck in football, every team has to wild very hard, host Nation tries as much as they can to win since they are the host but it is not a must that they will win the title,m after the trophy is something many national teams has to contend for before it is them giving to the winner and it is not luck, rather it is by who wins, you are correct, the AFCON match should not be a competition of those that want to win by applying unnecessary cheating habits, they should not make the competition to be less valued.

Well I think it more like the super eagle did not really play on luck so I guarantee that they really played more on defense and training and hard work well eventually well football games are more likely to be luck but I think hard is part of them too, and the fact where the AFCON is becoming more likely a competition that it a most for the host of the AFCON most take the cup.