MESSY FINAL: Amid chaotic scenes, Senegal won the AFCON title on Sunday, beating hosts Morocco 1-0.
The match had plenty of attacking intent, with shots and saves being made from both sides, but it was towards the end that things really got going.
To better understand how the end unfolded, in chronological order, a goal by Senegal in the second minute of stoppage time was ruled out for a foul by Abdoulaye Seck, although TV replays showed little contact on Morocco defender Achraf Hakimi, who fell before Seck headed the ball off the post. Moussa Niakhaté headed in the rebound.
Minutes later, Morocco won a penalty very late in normal time. El Hadji Malick Diouf appeared to drag Brahim Diaz to the ground by his neck. After a quick VAR check by DR Congo referee Jean-Jacques Ndala, he pointed to the penalty spot in the 98th minute.
Senegal were incensed by the two rulings and walked off the field in protest for a good 17 minutes. It appeared unclear if the game would continue before they returned.
Good for them to have come back because they almost forfeited the game to Morocco. Little did they know what was coming.
Diaz, the tournament’s top scorer with five goals, then attempted a Panenka from the spot with the last kick of the game which Edouard Mendy saved without breaking a sweat.
Villarreal midfielder Pape Gueye then scored the winning goal in the fourth minute of extra time, lashing a stunning left foot strike from the edge of the area beyond Yassine Bounou.
The 69,500-capacity Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium went silent.
Senegal were crowned champions of Africa for the second time in their history.
Morocco missed the chance to end their 50-year wait for the trophy.
And if the tournament is going to be remembered for anything, it’s how it ended.
MISSED AGAIN: Mohamed Salah once again failed to get an AFCON title, the one crown he craves the most.
“Nobody, even in Egypt, wants to win this trophy more than me,” said Salah after helping his team beat Cote d’Ivoire in the quarter-finals. “I have won almost every prize. This is the title I am waiting for.”
Salah can add the dispiriting loss to Senegal in the semi-finals to the list of AFCON disappointments. He was a losing finalist at the 2017 and 2021 editions — with those defeats sandwiching a last-16 exit in 2019 on home soil — and he was then injured as Egypt went out in the first knockout round at the 2023 finals.
What makes it worse is that Salah’s generation followed an Egyptian generation that won three AFCONs in a row.
It would be premature to suggest this will be Salah’s last AFCON with Egypt. He could still feature in the 2027 and 2028 editions of the tournament before it switches to a four-year cycle.
Salah’s legacy as Egypt’s greatest player is cemented whatever happens, but it will be a huge frustration for him if he ends his career without lifting African football’s greatest prize.
PLAYING FAVOURITES: Since when do teams decide who their referee will and won’t be? Since Morocco successfully protested the appointment of Egyptian referee Amin Mohamed Omar for their quarter-final against Cameroon, leading the African Football Confederation (CAF) to replace him with Mauritanian referee Dahane Beida just before the match.
Apparently, Morocco had complaints about the initial choice and an Algerian VAR official. They reportedly were seeking neutral officiating to avoid perceived bias.
But the incident highlighted political undertones in the tournament. Morocco simply decided it did not want an Egyptian or Algerian officiating their match, probably because they didn’t believe they would get a fair shake with the North Africans. But if this is the new trend, if a country can decide which referee it wants — based on nationality or competence — and gets to change who it doesn’t want, it is a big concern. Since Morocco was the host country, it also looked suspiciously like favouritism.
CHANGE THE LAYOUT: The format in this year’s AFCON could do with a little tweaking.
The competition started with six groups with four teams each. After the group stage, the first two teams in each group would progress to the round of 16, plus the best four teams that finished in third place.
This is where fine-tuning comes in. Why should a team that couldn’t make it to second place in the group stage be rewarded for finishing in third place? It doesn’t make sense.
The result of leaving the door open to third place teams is to have wasted a lot of time in the knockout rounds watching the likes of Mozambique, Benin, Sudan, and Tanzania when we all knew in advance they would be going nowhere.
If the administrators want to avoid this void, they could take the best 12 teams from the groups and put them in four groups of three teams. Then they could play a round robin among themselves until they come out with four semi-finalists.
EVERY FOUR YEARS: The announcement by Confederation of African Football President Patrice Motsepe that the Africa Cup of Nations will be held every four years starting from 2028 instead of every two years was met by jeers in Africa but relief in Europe.
AFCON will switch to a four-year cycle after the 2027 event which will be hosted by Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, and a 2028 edition. After that, the continent’s biggest tournament will become a quadrennial tournament taking place in the same year as the European Championships.
The surprise announcement about the future of AFCON was made by Motsepe before the start of the 2025 tournament. Motsepe said the decision had been made in conjunction with FIFA President Gianni Infantino.
The biennial hosting of AFCON has long caused issues with the football calendar, with the vast majority of recent tournaments held midway through the European club season. Making AFCON every four years will reduce the headaches European clubs get every two years when releasing their African players.
But AFCON fans have been used to watching the tournament every two years since 1968. CAF, too, remained committed to scheduling the tournament every two years not least because it needs the revenue raised from the finals to reinvest in the game on the continent.
None of the coaches who were interviewed in the tournament seemed impressed by the new idea, or of playing a new African Nations League that Motsepe claimed would be the equivalent of playing the Africa Cup.
* A version of this article appears in print in the 22 January, 2026 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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