Monday, 19 January 2026
Monday, 19 January 2026
Senegal claimed the Africa Cup of Nations for a second time after a dramatic and controversial final against Morocco that descended into chaos before being settled by a stoppage-time goal.
The final, played on Sunday, ended 1-0 in favour of Senegal thanks to a late strike from Pape Gueye, but only after the match was overshadowed by a stoppage-time penalty decision, a mass confrontation on the sidelines and Senegal temporarily refusing to continue the game.
With the score goalless in the 98th minute, referee Jean Jacques Ndala awarded Morocco a penalty after being advised by the video assistant referee to review defender El Hadji Malick Diouf’s challenge on Brahim Diaz.
Ndala consulted the pitchside monitor before pointing to the spot, a decision that came minutes after a potential Senegal winner at the other end had been disallowed for a foul in the build-up, a call that could not be overturned by VAR.
The penalty decision sparked fury on the Senegal bench. Both technical areas became embroiled in a fight and Senegal coach Pape Thiaw then instructed his players to leave the pitch and head to the dressing room in protest.
The match was halted amid confusion, with fans clashing with stewards in the stands and uncertainty over whether the final would continue.
After a 14-minute delay, the players returned. Morocco were given the chance to take the penalty with the final kick of regulation time, but goalkeeper Édouard Mendy saved Diaz’s ‘Panenka’ attempt.
“What is Brahim Diaz doing? What is he doing?” former Nigeria striker Efan Ekoku said on live coverage. “I cannot believe he has done that. Too clever for his own good ... absolutely ridiculous. He may never ever get another chance to score a winning goal in an AFCON final.”
Moments later, Senegal struck. Gueye scored in stoppage time to hand his side the title and cap a final that had lurched from controversy to jubilation.
“We all saw what happened at the end of the match but we took the decision to come back onto the pitch and give everything,” Gueye said.
Fifa president Gianni Infantino, who was present to hand over the trophy, condemned the scenes in a post on Instagram.
He wrote it is “unacceptable to leave the field of play in this manner, and equally, violence cannot be tolerated in our sport, it is simply not right”, adding that the decisions taken by match officials must always be respected, “because anything less puts the very essence of football at risk”.
Infantino, 55, said what happened “must be condemned and never repeated” and stressed that it is the responsibility of teams and players to set the right example.
“I reiterated that they have no place in football and I expect that the relevant disciplinary bodies at CAF will take the appropriate measures,” he added.
In Senegal, celebrations erupted despite the controversy. Fans set off fireworks and danced through the streets of Dakar into the pre-dawn hours on Monday.
President Bassirou Diomaye Faye declared Monday a national holiday after jubilant supporters flooded traffic roundabouts across the seaside capital.
Opinion was divided over Thiaw’s decision to withdraw his team. Morocco coach Walid Regragui said his Senegalese counterpart’s behaviour “wasn’t classy”, but many Senegal supporters defended him.
“This Africa Cup was full of cheating. They cheated until the end of the match but we were going to win,” Mohamed Diop said as crowds gathered near Dakar’s African Renaissance Monument.
“Stealing and creating a scenario as if it were a Netflix series is crazy. An Africa Cup is not a Netflix series.”
Others praised Sadio Mane for urging calm. “There was too much cheating, but when Sadio Mane did not accept that our players leave the competition, that really helped Senegal,” Idrissa Diallo said. “We would have had problems if we had left.”
The controversy continued after the final whistle. Thiaw’s post-match news conference was called off after he was jeered by Moroccan journalists while Senegalese reporters applauded him.
Later, in an interview with BeIN Sport, Thiaw admitted he was wrong to order his players off the pitch.
“We didn’t agree,” he said. “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,” he added.
Mane, who has said this Africa Cup of Nations will be his last, called for perspective.
“Football is something special, the world was watching, so we have to give a good image for football,” he said.
“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,” he added.
“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.
For Morocco, the defeat was crushing. Diaz was left crestfallen after being substituted following Gueye’s goal, as Morocco missed the chance to lift their first AFCON title since 1976.
Despite widespread praise for Morocco’s organisation of the tournament, including from figures such as Mohamed Salah, the scenes surrounding the penalty decision are likely to overshadow the event, particularly with the country set to co-host the World Cup in four years.
