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

[Son Of Blockchain (SOB)]

As a law abiding citizen in my country and someone who knows the law, I didn't see this case as complicated one but it is a clear case that CAF was compromised. Yes the law is written, who is to implement the law of CAF is the referee and other officiating officers on the field and whatever they say is the final judgement. The referee would have ended the Match on the time when Senegal left the field. But he decided to continue the match and awarded the penalty to Morocco and they missed it. And Senegal won the match with 1-0 on the field. And later CAF said it was nul and void. Who does that? Then again there were one or two players of Senegal were on the field when others went out, CAF didn't notice that part. Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo who officiated the referee role on the final has been removed from FIFA World Cup because of his misconduct on the Match. Only that tells me that Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo was biased in the match.

I really don't know why and how this whole thing is still a debate because it's obvious that the CAF federation wasn't confident enough and even the referee that allowed play to go on without checking the so called law that have made CAF now to draw out the conclusions that Senegal forfeited the game, this whole issue is very annoying because how would you the CAF president stand in the present of the entire world and crown a team the champions and now calling them out to return the trophy, just absolutely crazy.

That's the highest level of unprofessionalism from the officials down to CAF, if they knew that they'll later try to withdraw the tittle from Senegal then they shouldn't have given them the title after that finals. No matter how they try to twist things up to favour Morocco, Senegal would still remain Champions in the mind of real football lovers.
 I just like that the so called referee Jean- Jacques Ngambo "has been removed from FIFA World Cup" so he doesn't go there to repeat same mess on a particular match day in the World Cup, atleast that would teach him a lesson and he'll never try such if an opportunity s given again. CAF is an embarrassment to Africa and the CAF president, Patrice Motsepe should be ashamed of himself.

[Supreme Donvic]

This shows that there have been similar cases where even Morocco fared poorly for leaving the field. So I believe that CAF is being impartial in this case. I confess that on the first day when I read the news I thought CAF was acting wrongly. But then I realized that it is a complex case that could favor Morocco or Senegal, it will depend on how the law is interpreted.

CAF is to be blamed in my opinion. They were biased in the ruling to favor one side against the other. I don't know their rules more than them but we are talking about the whole continent tournament here which should not be ridiculed. As far as I know, it takes a severe offence like corruption cases involving great financial abuse, match fixing or bribery to warrant the authority to stripped off the already awarded tittle.

Quite alright, Senegalese players walked out of the pitch to protest on bad officiating which was actually against the rules of the game. But what happened later? Not all the players walked off the pitch and moreover, they came back to continue the play after about fifteen minutes. They didn't abandon the game absolutely. Fines and other penalties are enough to punish this act of unsportsmanship by Senegalese players. Going as far as stripping them of the AFCON title is extreme in my opinion.

All these drama we saw with CAF handling cup over to Morocco using the court ruling shows the system or the CAF was compromised, or either someone took bribery. Because this injustice will continue to hunt them back in the future as this has become a history no matter how they manage to make it seem they did the thing or took the right decision by stripping off the cup already awarded to the Senegalese national team, it wouldn't change the that CAF can be biased or get compromised because of their interests etc .

This event has already gone down in the history lane of African football as corrupt and messed up. Maybe CAF would have just ignored this investigation to salvage African football rather than all this rubbish going on. The name and face of African football have been tainted by this misleading and misguided judgment, and this will forever remain in the history books of African football.

They really don't know the damage they have cost to Africa football, in the just concluded Africa cup of nation I saw some big foreigners who came to watch the cup of nation even old coaches or football clubs were present in that competition what does that tells us African, it tells us that our football is being appreciated by the word and our players can be seen in big clubs through that competition because if you do very well in the competition a big club may have interest in you and then sign you, but with all this dirty politics they are now playing in Africa football I really don't think those set of people will still take that competition seriously anymore, is just a shame that they have disgrace us this way.
What have they achieved right now the only thing they have achieved is causing other nations to laugh at Africa football I never expected this kind of decision from CAF.

[Wakate]

That's the highest level of unprofessionalism from the officials down to CAF, if they knew that they'll later try to withdraw the tittle from Senegal then they shouldn't have given them the title after that finals. No matter how they try to twist things up to favour Morocco, Senegal would still remain Champions in the mind of real football lovers.
 I just like that the so called referee Jean- Jacques Ngambo "has been removed from FIFA World Cup" so he doesn't go there to repeat same mess on a particular match day in the World Cup, atleast that would teach him a lesson and he'll never try such if an opportunity s given again. CAF is an embarrassment to Africa and the CAF president, Patrice Motsepe should be ashamed of himself.

I think this is based on favoritism and morroco has been launching most of the African football games while other countries are busy ignoring the recommendation for them to host the AFCON competition. Senagal is not being favoured here and it is biased to see how corruption is taking place even in the African football association that should be firm with their words.

[Nightwatchmare]

Africans ain't civilized yet because they don't have value for human due to lack of love for each other. The law only affects the weak and the poor. Why didn't CAF fine these three fans instead of jailing them. I don't think, I'm happy with the outcome of the past AFCON and all the dramas attached to it.

Are we taking about civilization in Africa, we are far from that and it is because Africans are not ready for that, sometimes it pisses me off when I want to kwnd may voice to the just concluded AFCON that was full of irregularities, how will those that are not from this continent see us, just imagine the has punishment when such matter can handled and may be soft punishment that can serve as a warning given to them, this is what we see in a place that's not ready for change, those that are in position to make things right continues to make mistake meaning that they are not fit for such positions.

A lot of things that happen in the African cup of nation was something that was unbelievable, it was very clear that the officials of the African cup of nation only wanted Morocco to win the cup they did everything possible to make sure that they favor them, the match between Nigeria and Morocco the ref was really against Nigerian players, and it was very clear, Same thing happened again in the final between Morocco and Senegal the ref was also against Senegal players, those ref can’t be used in the World Cup, African continent is a disgrace to this world. The high-level of corruption is just too much and they are very much comfortable with it that way, one thing that pisses me off about the competition is the fact that they decided to give Morocco the trophy after Senegal won it.

Since i started watching Afcon tournaments this is the worst Afcon tournament i have watched, the match officials and CAF wanted Morocco to win the Afcon trophy the match officials were favoring Morocco right from when they were playing ground stage games and CAF did not call the match officials to order, they just allowed the match officials to keep favoring Morocco so that they could win the Afcon trophy, but i was so much happy at last Morocco did not win the Afcon trophy. Shame to CAF and Morocco for their foul play in the Afcon tournament. Senegal will never give the Afcon trophy to Morocco, so i will not worry myself with CAF declaring Morocco the winners of the Afcon trophy.

[7juju]

Edited out

Indeed is a good move for them, but it still doesn’t have any guarantee for them, because I don’t see how he will possibly prepare the team for the World Cup with the short time left for Preparation, I would have expected someone who knows what it means to manage a World Cup Squad, I know he has managed some teams in the World Cup, but why did they not go for something they’re familiar with which is an African manager, that would’ve suit the profile of the Squad properly, I don’t see how Ghana qualifys from the group stage of the World Cup with this Appointment.

Whether Ghana coach have one year to prepare for the World Cup, nothing will still come out from them. Ghana and most African countries are just going to the world cup to answer present. Not that they are going to do anything special at the World Cup. That’s why I’m angry with the Ghanaian FA for sacking a coach that qualified the for the World Cup just few months to the tournament. This new coach will not do anything special for them, they are most likely going to exit the competition after the group stages, and the excuse of the new coach will be that he didn’t have enough time to prepare with the players.

[Spaceman1000$]

Edited out

Indeed is a good move for them, but it still doesn’t have any guarantee for them, because I don’t see how he will possibly prepare the team for the World Cup with the short time left for Preparation, I would have expected someone who knows what it means to manage a World Cup Squad, I know he has managed some teams in the World Cup, but why did they not go for something they’re familiar with which is an African manager, that would’ve suit the profile of the Squad properly, I don’t see how Ghana qualifys from the group stage of the World Cup with this Appointment.

Whether Ghana coach have one year to prepare for the World Cup, nothing will still come out from them. Ghana and most African countries are just going to the world cup to answer present. Not that they are going to do anything special at the World Cup. That’s why I’m angry with the Ghanaian FA for sacking a coach that qualified the for the World Cup just few months to the tournament. This new coach will not do anything special for them, they are most likely going to exit the competition after the group stages, and the excuse of the new coach will be that he didn’t have enough time to prepare with the players.

I agreed with you about the fact that it was wrong for the Ghanaian FA to sack their coach just few months to the World Cup especially a coach that help them to qualify for the World Cup. however I disagree with you on the point that African teams are not going to do better in the World Cup, the football will play in Africa has changed a lot and you cannot write off any team or a country, formally Nigeria was one of the foremost countries in the world cup and international competitions but lately we've fallen back, other African countries that we feel were underdogs have taken the front burner and that is how it is in the football world nobody has a permanent seat.

[DiMarxist]

African teams can't do well in the world cup if they don't build their teams with indigenous coaches, as far as am concerned foreign coaches are just here to make their money and go back to their country. Looking at the countries that has qualified from Africa apart from Morocco I don't see any of the African teams that will go beyond the quarter finals of the world cup. The quality of football that the African teams are playing is not up to teams from Europe and the North America this is just the bitter truth we should tell ourselves.

[Mayor of ogba]

Whether Ghana coach have one year to prepare for the World Cup, nothing will still come out from them. Ghana and most African countries are just going to the world cup to answer present. Not that they are going to do anything special at the World Cup. That’s why I’m angry with the Ghanaian FA for sacking a coach that qualified the for the World Cup just few months to the tournament. This new coach will not do anything special for them, they are most likely going to exit the competition after the group stages, and the excuse of the new coach will be that he didn’t have enough time to prepare with the players.

The coach that helped Ghana qualified to the world cup did a great job, but if the Ghanaian FA see him as someone who's not fit to lead the black stars of Ghana to the world cup, the Ghanaian FA has the right to make an adjustment and bring in someone they believe will help the black stars of Ghana go far in the world cup, because world cup qualifiers is totally different from the world cup tournament. If the black stars of Ghana reaches the knockout phase of the world cup and they exit the world cup either in the round of 16 or quarter final, I will say that the new coach did extremely well.

[Joy- maker]

Whether Ghana coach have one year to prepare for the World Cup, nothing will still come out from them. Ghana and most African countries are just going to the world cup to answer present. Not that they are going to do anything special at the World Cup. That’s why I’m angry with the Ghanaian FA for sacking a coach that qualified the for the World Cup just few months to the tournament. This new coach will not do anything special for them, they are most likely going to exit the competition after the group stages, and the excuse of the new coach will be that he didn’t have enough time to prepare with the players.

What I know is that Ghana made the wrong decision by stacking the coach who qualified them to play for the upcoming FIFA world cup. And just as you have said, nothing special is likely to happen, either the Ghana national football team get knocked out from tournament in the group stage or on the knockout rounds, because they may not have what it takes to reach the quarter final of that tournament. The Ghana national football team is just going to the tournament to make appearance and return home, as there may be little to celebrate.

[Joy_learns_crypto]

What I know is that Ghana made the wrong decision by stacking the coach who qualified them to play for the upcoming FIFA world cup. And just as you have said, nothing special is likely to happen, either the Ghana national football team get knocked out from tournament in the group stage or on the knockout rounds, because they may not have what it takes to reach the quarter final of that tournament. The Ghana national football team is just going to the tournament to make appearance and return home, as there may be little to celebrate.

What will you then think of Morocco that sacked their coach that took them to the last World Cup semi finals and the African nations cup finals. Ghana coach may have qualified them but the qualification is different from the World Cup tournament.
During the friendly matches Ghana has been very bad, Ghana can dream and if they believe something special can happen for them they should dream, just like Morocco in the last tournament and Ghana has in the past World Cup been they African country to go furthest before Morocco broke the record.

[Solodoski]

As a law abiding citizen in my country and someone who knows the law, I didn't see this case as complicated one but it is a clear case that CAF was compromised. Yes the law is written, who is to implement the law of CAF is the referee and other officiating officers on the field and whatever they say is the final judgement. The referee would have ended the Match on the time when Senegal left the field. But he decided to continue the match and awarded the penalty to Morocco and they missed it. And Senegal won the match with 1-0 on the field. And later CAF said it was nul and void. Who does that? Then again there were one or two players of Senegal were on the field when others went out, CAF didn't notice that part. Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo who officiated the referee role on the final has been removed from FIFA World Cup because of his misconduct on the Match. Only that tells me that Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo was biased in the match.

I really don't know why and how this whole thing is still a debate because it's obvious that the CAF federation wasn't confident enough and even the referee that allowed play to go on without checking the so called law that have made CAF now to draw out the conclusions that Senegal forfeited the game, this whole issue is very annoying because how would you the CAF president stand in the present of the entire world and crown a team the champions and now calling them out to return the trophy, just absolutely crazy.

That's the highest level of unprofessionalism from the officials down to CAF, if they knew that they'll later try to withdraw the tittle from Senegal then they shouldn't have given them the title after that finals. No matter how they try to twist things up to favour Morocco, Senegal would still remain Champions in the mind of real football lovers.
 I just like that the so called referee Jean- Jacques Ngambo "has been removed from FIFA World Cup" so he doesn't go there to repeat same mess on a particular match day in the World Cup, atleast that would teach him a lesson and he'll never try such if an opportunity s given again. CAF is an embarrassment to Africa and the CAF president, Patrice Motsepe should be ashamed of himself.

I know the reaction of players on the pitch if it was in a world cup tournament would have been different. The official are professionals. You cant see them indecisive, especially in a final. An action must be taken in the pitch. Any wrong decision will ruin his officiating career for good.

That referee, who ever he is should not officiate anymore. It should be the end of his career. He is the reason why African football is becoming a joke in the global level.

[Fiatless]

I agreed with you about the fact that it was wrong for the Ghanaian FA to sack their coach just few months to the World Cup especially a coach that help them to qualify for the World Cup. however I disagree with you on the point that African teams are not going to do better in the World Cup, the football will play in Africa has changed a lot and you cannot write off any team or a country, formally Nigeria was one of the foremost countries in the world cup and international competitions but lately we've fallen back, other African countries that we feel were underdogs have taken the front burner and that is how it is in the football world nobody has a permanent seat.

I have read several arguments that the expansion of the World Cup to accommodate more African countries and others from developing nations would reduce the quality of the competition. Even the Italian coach was complaining about it after his team failed to qualify for the competition.

My expectations in this World Cup are for lowly placed or under-rated countries to surprise us. I believe that some African countries would make us proud. Just as Morocco did it in Qatar four years ago, another underdog would emerge in this edition.

[Ronsbit]

This shows that there have been similar cases where even Morocco fared poorly for leaving the field. So I believe that CAF is being impartial in this case. I confess that on the first day when I read the news I thought CAF was acting wrongly. But then I realized that it is a complex case that could favor Morocco or Senegal, it will depend on how the law is interpreted.

CAF is to be blamed in my opinion. They were biased in the ruling to favor one side against the other. I don't know their rules more than them but we are talking about the whole continent tournament here which should not be ridiculed. As far as I know, it takes a severe offence like corruption cases involving great financial abuse, match fixing or bribery to warrant the authority to stripped off the already awarded tittle.

Quite alright, Senegalese players walked out of the pitch to protest on bad officiating which was actually against the rules of the game. But what happened later? Not all the players walked off the pitch and moreover, they came back to continue the play after about fifteen minutes. They didn't abandon the game absolutely. Fines and other penalties are enough to punish this act of unsportsmanship by Senegalese players. Going as far as stripping them of the AFCON title is extreme in my opinion.

All these drama we saw with CAF handling cup over to Morocco using the court ruling shows the system or the CAF was compromised, or either someone took bribery. Because this injustice will continue to hunt them back in the future as this has become a history no matter how they manage to make it seem they did the thing or took the right decision by stripping off the cup already awarded to the Senegalese national team, it wouldn't change the that CAF can be biased or get compromised because of their interests etc .

This event has already gone down in the history lane of African football as corrupt and messed up. Maybe CAF would have just ignored this investigation to salvage African football rather than all this rubbish going on. The name and face of African football have been tainted by this misleading and misguided judgment, and this will forever remain in the history books of African football.

They really don't know the damage they have cost to Africa football, in the just concluded Africa cup of nation I saw some big foreigners who came to watch the cup of nation even old coaches or football clubs were present in that competition what does that tells us African, it tells us that our football is being appreciated by the word and our players can be seen in big clubs through that competition because if you do very well in the competition a big club may have interest in you and then sign you, but with all this dirty politics they are now playing in Africa football I really don't think those set of people will still take that competition seriously anymore, is just a shame that they have disgrace us this way.
What have they achieved right now the only thing they have achieved is causing other nations to laugh at Africa football I never expected this kind of decision from CAF.

They really made a joke of African football, though. It would have been better that CAF president had resigned from his position with immediate effect for such a terrible error under his watch, as it would salvage the situation a little bit, but his still being there shows the act of corruption ongoing in the CAF body, which really does not go well with African football.
As all these dramas are going on, the world is watching how Africa handles such situation and it would be obvious that such erros were not corrected effectively and everything is just let to side like that and if it happens in such a way then I am sorry that CAF and African football would be neglected by FIFA and other well meaning football body and this would affect African football causing our sports to look like a joke to the world. Africa trades great players around the globe, and the majority of them are products of CAF, through which they gained global recognition. Now that the same CAF is turning into something else, and if measures are not taken to correct such lapses, it would definitely cost African football a whole lot, as the world would not take our tournaments and leagues seriously.

[Italian Panic]

My expectations in this World Cup are for lowly placed or under-rated countries to surprise us. I believe that some African countries would make us proud. Just as Morocco did it in Qatar four years ago, another underdog would emerge in this edition.

I agree that if Morocco play with the right attitude, they could go far in the World Cup; the other problem is that African teams have supplied too many players to national sides like France and Spain.
The best French players are African or for example Lamine Yamal could play for Morocco. It will become increasingly difficult to find players like Drogba, Salah and Eto’o.

[Fiatless]

I agree that if Morocco play with the right attitude, they could go far in the World Cup; the other problem is that African teams have supplied too many players to national sides like France and Spain.
The best French players are African or for example Lamine Yamal could play for Morocco. It will become increasingly difficult to find players like Drogba, Salah and Eto’o.

Some of the African players who played for youth teams in European nations only return to play for Africa because they were dumped by these Western teams. Since these Western countries offer better working conditions and global recognition, African players are easily attracted by their offer. However, only those with love for their native country would still decide to represent Africa even when they get these good offers from European countries. Drogba, Salah and other top African players were uncommon nationalists.

[Tonimez]

I agree that if Morocco play with the right attitude, they could go far in the World Cup; the other problem is that African teams have supplied too many players to national sides like France and Spain.
The best French players are African or for example Lamine Yamal could play for Morocco. It will become increasingly difficult to find players like Drogba, Salah and Eto’o.

Some of the African players who played for youth teams in European nations only return to play for Africa because they were dumped by these Western teams. Since these Western countries offer better working conditions and global recognition, African players are easily attracted by their offer. However, only those with love for their native country would still decide to represent Africa even when they get these good offers from European countries. Drogba, Salah and other top African players were uncommon nationalists.

It is not an attraction issue. The truth is that African countries don't support Many of them as many teams in Africa has serious management issues among their football federation. In Africa almost every year you hear the issue of non payment of salaries and benefits of players and coaches, same way they treat their civil servants. No body would love to leave a greener pasture for the sake of a corrupt government. The nation that does not care about their Heroes.

Let's take a look at Stephen Keshi, the only home coach to lift the African cup of Nations for the super eagles. What has the country done for him or his family since his death? We have records of Samuel Okwaraji who died in the pitch while representing his country, a law student who was supposed to be in school but flew home for the sake of patriotism. After his death, his family was promised many things and until this day, none has been fulfilled. Is this what you expect anyone that has a better offer to leave for the sake of his country?

Africa has talents, but the leaders don't care about anyone, politics take over every part of the nation even their sports. Anyone who chooses his nation over the western nations has already been rejected by the western nations or has a hidden agenda he wants achieve. African leaders have to do better instead of politics in every aspect. So don't even blame anyone that chooses other nations first.

[Roseline492]

Some of the African players who played for youth teams in European nations only return to play for Africa because they were dumped by these Western teams. Since these Western countries offer better working conditions and global recognition, African players are easily attracted by their offer. However, only those with love for their native country would still decide to represent Africa even when they get these good offers from European countries. Drogba, Salah and other top African players were uncommon nationalists.

It is not an attraction issue. The truth is that African countries don't support Many of them as many teams in Africa has serious management issues among their football federation. In Africa almost every year you hear the issue of non payment of salaries and benefits of players and coaches, same way they treat their civil servants. No body would love to leave a greener pasture for the sake of a corrupt government. The nation that does not care about their Heroes.

Yes it could be, players who have lived from birth in the Western country wouldn't like to come back to Africa to be seeing all this drama they always acted, there is what a country would be doing even if you are footballer from the country but was raised in Western country you will just turn your back on them to manage and abuse there national team the way they have been doing. Is possible that Nigeria has the highest number of players who have preferred other countries than what any African countries must have had and in future super eagles might be more home based players than international ones.

[Dunamisx]

That's the highest level of unprofessionalism from the officials down to CAF, if they knew that they'll later try to withdraw the tittle from Senegal then they shouldn't have given them the title after that finals. No matter how they try to twist things up to favour Morocco, Senegal would still remain Champions in the mind of real football lovers.
 I just like that the so called referee Jean- Jacques Ngambo "has been removed from FIFA World Cup" so he doesn't go there to repeat same mess on a particular match day in the World Cup, atleast that would teach him a lesson and he'll never try such if an opportunity s given again. CAF is an embarrassment to Africa and the CAF president, Patrice Motsepe should be ashamed of himself.

I think this is based on favoritism and morroco has been launching most of the African football games while other countries are busy ignoring the recommendation for them to host the AFCON competition. Senagal is not being favoured here and it is biased to see how corruption is taking place even in the African football association that should be firm with their words.

Now we can see that there is no fair justice in anywhere, we should just do our best and leave the rest, as long as human being are the ones in charge of controlling the affairs of things and making decisions, things like this are bound to happen, they should just let us know where they stand and show enough reason to any decision they are taking either for Senegal or against Morocco and conclude their verdict.

[Wakate]

Now we can see that there is no fair justice in anywhere, we should just do our best and leave the rest, as long as human being are the ones in charge of controlling the affairs of things and making decisions, things like this are bound to happen, they should just let us know where they stand and show enough reason to any decision they are taking either for Senegal or against Morocco and conclude their verdict.

There is injustice in everywhere so this is not a new thing to me because something like this had happened in the past and nothing happened. There are competitions I don't bother to look out for misappropriations because there are others that are seeing it and it shouldn't be emphasized for too long because the same will happen again.

[Mayor of ogba]

I think this is based on favoritism and morroco has been launching most of the African football games while other countries are busy ignoring the recommendation for them to host the AFCON competition. Senagal is not being favoured here and it is biased to see how corruption is taking place even in the African football association that should be firm with their words.

Yes, Morocco was favored in the African Cup of Nations because they have been hosting Africa competitions, and that's the reason CAF is doing everything within their power for Morocco to win the African Cup of Nations through the back door but Morocco and CAF won't achieve anything they are planning, because Senegal isn't ready to give Morocco their hard earned trophy.