The common saying that boats tend to capsize near docks could be a perfect statement to describe how Africa Cup of Nations 2025 came to an end on Sunday, 18th January 2026 in Rabat, Morocco. For all the great experiences, good organisation and quality display on pitch we enjoyed over the last month, what will forever stick into the memories of many people that watched the final as Senegal faced Morocco, is the shameful end to the game, later on the tournament.
Not many will remember the baritone voice of Idris Elba, the colorful and well produced closing ceremony or the IshowSpeed moment when he appeared as Assad, the tournement official mascot. All that went down the drain in a flash when the closing minutes of normal time turned into bedlam. A tournament that has served as a great advert for African football will now and forever be remembered for the bizzare moments in the final.
What exactly happened
The game kicked off at exactly 8:00PM (Local time in Rabat), pitting two teams that were deserving to be in the final, given their journey throughout the tournament. Morocco might have had a sloppy start but kept improving as the tournament progressed. For Senegal, they stamped their authority and made their intentions quite clear from onset. Therefore, the final was befitting and indeed the display on the day did not disappoint. Either side had a fair share of chances with both goalkeepers Yasinne Bounou (Morocco) and Edouard Mendy called into action.
Bounou denied Papa Gueye, Iliman Ndiaye and substitute Ibrahim Mbaye on different intervals while Mendy spread his body to force Ayoub El Kabi into putting the ball wide when he was teed up by Bilal El Khannouss.
When hell broke loose
Two minutes into the five added minutes, substitute Ismaila Sarr who had put the ball into the back of the net saw his would-be goal cancelled with Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala calling for a foul on Achraf Hakimi by Abdoulaye Seck in the build-up, although the replays showed minimal contact.
With the game destined for the end, referee Ndala was called by the VAR team headed by Pierre Atcho to the monitor to check on an incident that involved defender El Hadji Malick Diouf pulling Brahim Diaz when Morocco had a corner kick. After a prolonged review, Ndala pointed to the spot, a decision that left Senegal fumming.
Drama then ensued, first with the Lions of Teranga protesting the decision, a scuffle involving the two technical benches started, then Senegal’s head coach Pape Bouna Thiaw walked to the pitch to order his players off. Meanwhile in the stands, the Senegalese fans wanted to run onto the pitch and got involved into a fist fight with the stewards. The brawl took the intervation of Police to calm the situation that had led to damage of chairs, the advertising LED screens behind one of the goals and some people walking away with minor injuries.
Meanwhile, back on the field, Sadio Mane asked his teammates to continue with the game but they chose to return to the dressing rooms. It took the intervation of football legends like El Hadji Diouf who seemed to have been in commuication on phone with someone, celebrated coach Claude Le Roy and perhaps other officials that we didn’t get to see on the pitch for play to resume. Mane ran to the dressing room and persuaded his teammates to return to the pitch. All this drama lasted 17 minutes before the penalty was taken only to be missed by Diaz who opted to go for a panenka that was easily picked by Mendy.
After the game, Mane said: “Football is something special, the world was watching, so we have to give a good image for football. I think it would be crazy to not play this game because what, the referee gave a penalty and we go out of the game? I think that would be the worst thing especially in African football. I’d rather lose than this kind of thing happen to our football. I think it’s really bad. Football should not stop for 10 minutes but what can we do? We have to accept what we did but the good thing is that we came back and we played the game and what happened happened.” He said as quoted by BBC Sport.
On the other hand Coach Thiaw an interview with beIN Sports, stated: ‘We didn’t agree. ‘I don’t want to go over all the incidents. I apologise for the football.
‘After reflecting on it I made them come back [on the pitch] – you can react in the heat of the moment. We accept the errors of the referee.
‘We shouldn’t have done it but it’s done and now we present our apologies to football.’
Papa Gueye went ahead to score in extra time the lone goal that decided the contest and eventually guide Senegal to their second AFCON title.
As the curtains draw on what has been a spectacular tournament, the ugly scenes of walking off the pitch, fights in the stands, Moroccan journalists booing coach Thiaw in the press conference room after the final all left a bad spot on AFCON 2025.
CAF will have to issue a strong statement, perhaps with hefty fines for all those that were involved in the mess.