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

[Fiatless]

It is important that you begin to ask questions in some certain things. Is it FIFA that schedules this kind of friendlies or the countries involved agreed to play each other. I am asking why the choice of Nigeria by this time that the Northern Nigeria are protesting in solidarity with Iran.

Is this a signal to the Iran Government that Nigeria is standing with them? I hope US will not misinterpret this gesture. It seems like football is becoming more political shaa.

This match was already fixed before the US and Israel started attacking Iran. So you expected Nigeria to cancel the game because Iran was attacked.

Sports should be neutral in global politics. Football games shouldn't be politicised. The Super Eagles played with the Iranian team and there was no indication that they were showing solidarity. Donald Trump's actions are making global sports more complicated.

[Nightwatchmare]

CAF has killed African football with this decision that they have taken to strip off Senegal of their title for reasons best known to them. It's clear at this moment that Caf clearly had an agenda before the start of the Afcon and that was to hand over the trophy to Morocco and it was openly shown in the way that the referees handled the games involving Morocco, this is an international embarrassment that CAF has brought to it self.



From all these happening right now, I will not take CAF seriously because, this is a big mockery to Africa football, which is always exciting and fun to follow. Just imagine CAF handing over the title to another team from the comfort of their office, this is really a shame.

Jamie Carragher has been downgrading AFCON tournament and he do not see any value in it, and i believe CAF moves to strip off Senegal of their title they work so hard to win have just justify what Jamie Carragher has been saying about AFCON tournament all along and it will make more people to have the same conviction Jamie Carragher have about AFCON tournament, and plenty of people will not take African football seriously. It was clear even when the AFCON tournament was on that CAF had an agenda to help Morocco win the AFCON tournament because Morocco was favored in all their matches by the referee.

[Unsoldier]

To be honest, I don't understand how the Moroccans are going to celebrate their team's victory. Let’s say Morocco succeeds in getting Senegal to hand over the CAF trophy. What then — is the Moroccan national team going to lift the cup right there in the courtroom? I wonder, will they show up to court in their kits or in business suits?)) It’s just absurd! Are the people of Morocco really ready to celebrate a victory in court rather than after a football match? If my national team won the World Cup or the Euros this way, it would leave me with a bewildered smile, but I would have no desire at all to celebrate such a win.

[SatoPrincess]

In case you come across this headline, "Aex Iwobi robbed at knifepoint, losing half a million pounds as he was forced to transfer 500,000 pounds". Alex Iwobi’s Father has reacted to the rumours, stating his son is “Alex is fine, and there was absolutely no attempt to burgle his house. He left for Turkey this morning in preparation for the friendlies,” he said

https://www.legit.ng/sports/football/1702528-alex-iwobis-father-reacts-rumours-super-eagles-star-robbed-london/

This was something I have find hard to believe so many time after reading the head line of everything the media where saying about this here but the funniest part was that this is not even Nigeria where such thing could even happen at once…to the extent where he was been knifepointed this was really a lot to believe at first when I saw the post…

Blogs will post anything for the traffic and views. They aren’t journalist with ethics, just people who are money hungry and do not care the damage their actions can cause. I guess people believed it because of the high rate of knife crime in the UK and the fact that getting robbed is one of the most common things that happens in central London.

[Localhostspeed]

This match was already fixed before the US and Israel started attacking Iran. So you expected Nigeria to cancel the game because Iran was attacked.

Sports should be neutral in global politics. Football games shouldn't be politicised. The Super Eagles played with the Iranian team and there was no indication that they were showing solidarity. Donald Trump's actions are making global sports more complicated.

If this was the reverse of what is happening in Iran, I don't think many of us will picture it this way. Let's say Nigerian is having regional war with other countries and our people are dying and begging for help and we have match with any other middle east countries. I don't think the Nigerians that we know will take it lightly, they are going to insult them on Twitter, abuse them like they do all the time but since we are not the one affected, we are justifying it as sport.

I didn't even watch the match, I saw the outcome as 2-1 as Nigerian won. It was a friendly match but there wasn't any entertainment about it. People didn't even talk about the game. The only thing I saw on X was some sport accounts using it to gain engagement by tagging Iran with some sort of annoying posts that they shouldn't not attack Nigeria, some involved Ghana to make fun when there is nothing funny about Iran right now.

[Agbamoni]

It is important that you begin to ask questions in some certain things. Is it FIFA that schedules this kind of friendlies or the countries involved agreed to play each other. I am asking why the choice of Nigeria by this time that the Northern Nigeria are protesting in solidarity with Iran.

Is this a signal to the Iran Government that Nigeria is standing with them? I hope US will not misinterpret this gesture. It seems like football is becoming more political shaa.

Geopolitics has nothing to do with sports. Any government that stands against sport while carrying out a war should be ready to wage war against the entire nation. This is not a threat. I bet you, Trump and other government officials know about this.

The match was held, no casualties, no threat, simply a game of football enjoyed by the viewers. I think you have overemphasized the war. That's why you believe it will affect sports.

[Adbitco]

It is important that you begin to ask questions in some certain things. Is it FIFA that schedules this kind of friendlies or the countries involved agreed to play each other. I am asking why the choice of Nigeria by this time that the Northern Nigeria are protesting in solidarity with Iran.

Is this a signal to the Iran Government that Nigeria is standing with them? I hope US will not misinterpret this gesture. It seems like football is becoming more political shaa.

Even though football has been political for some years now but this is far from it, most of these matches were already scheduled to be played earlier before now, some were secluded as far as 2025 so you can't just change it except if one of the countries refuses to play for a genuine reason. Besides the matches are agreed by the countries involved then they will inform FIFA, at least that's how I know friendlies are fixed mostly.

[Mayor of ogba]

Nigeria 2 - 1 Iran.
It is funny to see absurd talks here about Super Eagles replacing Iran then seeing them playing a friendly match weeks later. Of course this is a testing match, I wasn't aware of, I just saw the result and wonder if anyone here watched it. This result is not good for Iran ahead of the World Cup especially that I heard that they were forbidden from going or playing against enemy countries according to them.

Austria 5 - 1 Ghana
That's not a good result weeks before the World Cup. They literally were destroyed by Austrian.

It is important that you begin to ask questions in some certain things. Is it FIFA that schedules this kind of friendlies or the countries involved agreed to play each other. I am asking why the choice of Nigeria by this time that the Northern Nigeria are protesting in solidarity with Iran.

Is this a signal to the Iran Government that Nigeria is standing with them? I hope US will not misinterpret this gesture. It seems like football is becoming more political shaa.

FIFA doesn't have the power to schedule a friendly match between two countries, it's the two countries that are involved in a friendly match that agreed to play against each other. I believe the Iran vs Nigeria friendly match was fixed before the Israel-United States of America and Iran war started, and since Iran that's at war didn't call-up the friendly match with Nigeria, Nigeria has no choice than to proceed with the match since it was fixed before the war. Donald J. Trump knows the politics that is going on in Nigeria, so I believe he won't misinterpret the Iran vs Nigeria friendly.

[Fiatless]

If this was the reverse of what is happening in Iran, I don't think many of us will picture it this way. Let's say Nigerian is having regional war with other countries and our people are dying and begging for help and we have match with any other middle east countries. I don't think the Nigerians that we know will take it lightly, they are going to insult them on Twitter, abuse them like they do all the time but since we are not the one affected, we are justifying it as sport.

I didn't even watch the match, I saw the outcome as 2-1 as Nigerian won. It was a friendly match but there wasn't any entertainment about it. People didn't even talk about the game. The only thing I saw on X was some sport accounts using it to gain engagement by tagging Iran with some sort of annoying posts that they shouldn't not attack Nigeria, some involved Ghana to make fun when there is nothing funny about Iran right now.

I am finding it difficult to understand what you wrote. Please, can you explain further? Where would Nigeria insult the country on Twitter? Nigeria is neutral in the war and the Super Eagles just played a friendly game.

The game was not popular because it was not televised by major stations. Friendly games are usually not viewed since they're not a major match. This win might increase Nigeria's FIFA ranking.

[Solodoski]

FIFA doesn't have the power to schedule a friendly match between two countries, it's the two countries that are involved in a friendly match that agreed to play against each other. I believe the Iran vs Nigeria friendly match was fixed before the Israel-United States of America and Iran war started, and since Iran that's at war didn't call-up the friendly match with Nigeria, Nigeria has no choice than to proceed with the match since it was fixed before the war. Donald J. Trump knows the politics that is going on in Nigeria, so I believe he won't misinterpret the Iran vs Nigeria friendly.

You need to understand that FIFA is in control of the entire football federation in the world, provided it is an intercontinental game FIFA is also involved after the two teams have agreed to meet each other in a friendly match. FIFA have the right to cancel any match if the need for it arises. I think FIFA was comfortable with the fixture that is the reason why nothing was done about it. After all Iran is in war with Israel and the US not with the whole world. If they want to hold a match between their neighboring country.

[KingsDen]

It is important that you begin to ask questions in some certain things. Is it FIFA that schedules this kind of friendlies or the countries involved agreed to play each other. I am asking why the choice of Nigeria by this time that the Northern Nigeria are protesting in solidarity with Iran.

Is this a signal to the Iran Government that Nigeria is standing with them? I hope US will not misinterpret this gesture. It seems like football is becoming more political shaa.

This match was already fixed before the US and Israel started attacking Iran. So you expected Nigeria to cancel the game because Iran was attacked.

Sports should be neutral in global politics. Football games shouldn't be politicised. The Super Eagles played with the Iranian team and there was no indication that they were showing solidarity. Donald Trump's actions are making global sports more complicated.

It is good to know that the fixture was made before the war started. This has quenched my curiosity, else I would be asking even more questions. Meanwhile, Nigeria was not supposed to cancel it as it was already fixed, if not, it would be sending another wrong signal.

Meanwhile, talking about football and politics. Football is supposed to be devoid of politics, but in really, it is not so. Take for instance, the Morroco -, Senegal finals saga. Don't you see that is was political?

[DiMarxist]

Iran is not in war with Nigeria, they are having problems with Israel and the United States and has made it clear that, they won't be participating in the world cup taking place in the United States of America. On that premise I don't see the need for Iran not to play a football game.The game with Nigeria was a good one from the government of Iran even though the game has been organized for a long time before the war broke out in the middle east. I was expecting that Iran will call off the game since they will not be participating in the world cup anymore.

[MorganaX]

Iran is not in war with Nigeria, they are having problems with Israel and the United States and has made it clear that, they won't be participating in the world cup taking place in the United States of America. On that premise I don't see the need for Iran not to play a football game.The game with Nigeria was a good one from the government of Iran even though the game has been organized for a long time before the war broke out in the middle east. I was expecting that Iran will call off the game since they will not be participating in the world cup anymore.

I don't know how people actually get to see this whole thing because Iran is fighting war doesn't mean that they won't play football, okay let's take Ukraine and Russia for example, Ukraine have actively playing football games for some time now and same thing goes to Russia too and I don't see any reason why Iran should be different especially when it comes to friendly games that have been fixed. FIFA is the body covering football activities and is well aware of the games to play and the reason why Iran would possibly not participate in the world cup is because the host nation is America.

[Abu-Naim]

Iran is not in war with Nigeria, they are having problems with Israel and the United States and has made it clear that, they won't be participating in the world cup taking place in the United States of America. On that premise I don't see the need for Iran not to play a football game.The game with Nigeria was a good one from the government of Iran even though the game has been organized for a long time before the war broke out in the middle east. I was expecting that Iran will call off the game since they will not be participating in the world cup anymore.

World Cup is a big tournament that every country will be proud to have their team participating into, most developed countries gives their maximum support to the team and the players because it’s their pride if they win the trophy, because of that, maximum impact will be needed by the government aim the course of the tournament which I don’t think a country in a war should give now because their main focus will be in the war and how they can manage to either stop the war or protect their country and citizens by all means; therefore they will not have time to watch the games and the players will also be worried about their families which will make them feel uncomfortable throughout the competition. Maybe that’s the main reason why they don’t want their team to participate.

[Youngrebel]

I don't know how people actually get to see this whole thing because Iran is fighting war doesn't mean that they won't play football, okay let's take Ukraine and Russia for example, Ukraine have actively playing football games for some time now and same thing goes to Russia too and I don't see any reason why Iran should be different especially when it comes to friendly games that have been fixed. FIFA is the body covering football activities and is well aware of the games to play and the reason why Iran would possibly not participate in the world cup is because the host nation is America.

From the way I am looking at the matter, Iran might participate in the World Cup and if they do. FIFA will understand the war and fix their matches in the other two countries and exempt US. And if they are not playing in the world cup too FIFA will understand. I saw a news that, Iran said they are playing in the World Cup so I don't know who to believe again until when the World Cup starts.
And for Senegal case, I like the way they are doing. Morocco is trying to stop them from celebrating with France. Morocco would allow this people to rest. Everything is clear on the field.

[7juju]

To be honest, I don't understand how the Moroccans are going to celebrate their team's victory. Let’s say Morocco succeeds in getting Senegal to hand over the CAF trophy. What then — is the Moroccan national team going to lift the cup right there in the courtroom? I wonder, will they show up to court in their kits or in business suits?)) It’s just absurd! Are the people of Morocco really ready to celebrate a victory in court rather than after a football match?

They will appear in court with business suites. Moreover it’s not the players that will representing them in court, so there will be no need for national jersey. If they win the case in court, and the trophy is handed to them, they will hold it till the next international break after the court ruling to parade with the trophy so that the players that represented in the AFCON will be available. Secondly, if the Moroccans are not ready to win the trophy in the court room, they wouldn’t have taken the case to court in the first place.

[Mr Reporter]

In case you come across this headline, "Aex Iwobi robbed at knifepoint, losing half a million pounds as he was forced to transfer 500,000 pounds". Alex Iwobi’s Father has reacted to the rumours, stating his son is “Alex is fine, and there was absolutely no attempt to burgle his house. He left for Turkey this morning in preparation for the friendlies,” he said

https://www.legit.ng/sports/football/1702528-alex-iwobis-father-reacts-rumours-super-eagles-star-robbed-london/

This was something I have find hard to believe so many time after reading the head line of everything the media where saying about this here but the funniest part was that this is not even Nigeria where such thing could even happen at once…to the extent where he was been knifepointed this was really a lot to believe at first when I saw the post…

Blogs will post anything for the traffic and views. They aren’t journalist with ethics, just people who are money hungry and do not care the damage their actions can cause. I guess people believed it because of the high rate of knife crime in the UK and the fact that getting robbed is one of the most common things that happens in central London.

Till date I would still tell yiu how well i didn’t feel well at some point when I was reading the the trend on X my, question why do they since do that to people when everyone is trying so much hard to manage…to make money online is much not better a lot because fake news pay to because no payment rate..nowadays yiu find such people goin all over the media sayings what he not to say…

[Iroh]

CAF's decision to strip Senegal off the African Cup of Nations has ruined African football, so I don't blame anyone who doesn't take African football seriously. Senegal is the legitimate winners of the African Cup of Nations, and it's unfair that CAF is trying so hard to strip them off the trophy. A lot of people are against CAF's decision, so Senegal should stand firmly in their decision of not returning the African Cup of Nations to Morocco.

I wouldn't exactly say the decision has ruined African football but yeah, i would say their decision has been quite controversial to say the least. A lot of people(i included) are not happy with the ultimate decision to strip Senegal of the title win and awarded the victory to Morocco. But following the appeal put forward by the Moroccan football federation which i would admit has some merits.
I'm not exactly happy with the decision but if we're to strictly follow the already laid down guidelines, Senegal had, in the heat of the moment, unknowingly forfeited the game as they had breached the rules and left the pitch before the game had ended. It's not exactly a popular decision but it was the rules and it was enforced.

[Oluwa-btc]

Geopolitics has nothing to do with sports. Any government that stands against sport while carrying out a war should be ready to wage war against the entire nation. This is not a threat. I bet you, Trump and other government officials know about this.

The match was held, no casualties, no threat, simply a game of football enjoyed by the viewers. I think you have overemphasized the war. That's why you believe it will affect sports.

"Geopolitics has nothing to do with sports"   laughable thing to write truthfully.

Two years of the Russia/Ukraine war and Russia are still banned from being involved in international football,  while two years of the Israel genocide in Palestine and Gaza has been overlooked. And why are they yet to banned the US who intentionally used missiles twice on the 176 elementary all girls school in Iran?! Fifa, the footballing body has become a lot more political than most of you thought.

[Agbamoni]

"Geopolitics has nothing to do with sports"  laughable thing to write truthfully.

Two years of the Russia/Ukraine war and Russia are still banned from being involved in international football,  while two years of the Israel genocide in Palestine and Gaza has been overlooked. And why are they yet to banned the US who intentionally used nuclear weapons twice on the 176 elementary all girls school in Iran?! Fifa the footballing body has become a lot more political than most of you thoughts.

You have this feeling that powerful countries like the US and Israel face fewer sanctions in sports. But that's not true! Sincerely I was waiting for this argumnet.

In the case of the sanction on Russia. Most European countries refused to play against Russia, as it was causing chaos, and teams were boycotting the competition because of it. This made FIFA and other football bodies act immediately. It was after other countries refused to play against Russia that the football federation acted. But as for Iran, Nigeria still chose to play against them. And other countries still do. The same thing goes for the United States.