Senegal are champions of Africa again, and they did it the only way AFCON ever allows. Through disorder, noise, controversy, raw nerve, and an ending that felt more like a pressure cooker release than a sporting conclusion.
The final game finished 1–0 in favour of the Terrange Lions, but that scoreline hides everything. ,
It hides the overturned goal. It hides the penalty awarded to Morocco. It hides the walk-off, the confrontations, the shouting, the long pause that froze an entire stadium. It conceals the missed penalty in the final seconds of regulation time and the ensuing silence. It hides the left foot of Pape Gueye arriving in the fourth minute of extra time to settle a match that had already burned through several lives.
All of it unfolded in roughly half an hour. No exaggeration. No need to dress it up. AFCON rarely builds slowly. It detonates.
This was the first Africa Cup of Nations played across Christmas and New Year in the tournament’s 68-year history. That shift alone altered the continent’s rhythm.
Family gatherings rearranged themselves around kick-off times. Churches emptied earlier. Workplaces ran quieter. Living rooms turned into command posts. Phones stayed lit long after midnight.
By the second week, it felt normal.
On the pitch, the tournament delivered numbers and names. A record haul of goals. A list filled with players who headline Europe’s biggest clubs. A semifinal lineup that carried serious weight. Egypt, Morocco, Nigeria, and Senegal.
Twelve titles between them. This was not a romantic lineup you’d predict. It was a statement of hierarchy.
Some called the tournament predictable.
That word rarely survives contact with African football. Predictability only exists until the first mistake, the first moment of emotion, the first lapse in discipline. AFCON feeds on those moments.
For me, AFCON remains the greatest sporting tournament in the world, yeah, I mean it. It always has. Nothing else blends football with history, politics, culture, humor, grief, pride, and identity in the same way.
AFCON does several things at once. It reflects collective ambition. It exposes structural weaknesses. It becomes a barometer for the national mood. It also turns social media into a live archive of jokes, arguments, tears, and instant histories.
No tournament produces memes at this pace. None inspires this level of emotional investment.
For many Africans, this competition carries more weight than the World Cup. That attachment has roots. AFCON was born during decolonization. It grew alongside new flags and fragile borders. It speaks to shared memory and local rivalry.
AFCON 2025 honored that tradition, then added its own scars.
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The Highs
Moroccan magic and Nigerian might
Before the final turned sour, Morocco provided the tournament’s most breathtaking individual moments. Ayoub El Kaabi scored two overhead kicks that belonged in different highlights, talk more about the same tournament. One came against Comoros.
Another followed later in the group stage. Both were struck with calm precision.
No hesitation. No drama.
Bicycle kicks are rare by design in football. Players talk themselves out of them. El Kaabi treated them like muscle memory. The ease bordered on insulting.
Morocco played with authority for most of the competition. Structure held. Midfield control stayed firm. The home crowd carried them forward.
When the final slipped away, the response revealed the weight of expectation. Pride cracked into frustration. Order dissolved into anger. Home tournaments amplify everything.
Nigeria offered the most compelling football across long stretches. Their Round of 16 demolition of Mozambique stood out.
A 4–0 scoreline built on pace, intelligence, and movement. Victor Osimhen bullied defenders. Ademola Lookman drifted into space with purpose. Akor Adams stitched everything together quietly.
Lookman’s evolution stood out.
He finished with three goals and carried himself like the creative engine of the side. Nigeria’s attack moved to his rhythm. Direct. Efficient. Relentless.
Nigeria also reminded everyone of its oldest habit. Self-inflicted wounds remain part of the package
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A Lumumba frozen in time
One of the tournament’s defining images never involved a ball.
Michel Nkuka Mboladinga stood in the stands during every DR Congo match, arms folded, posture rigid, eyes fixed forward. He did not celebrate. He did not react. He became Patrice Lumumba.
Nkuka has posed this way since 2013, honoring the DRC’s first prime minister, assassinated months after independence. At AFCON 2025, the image went global. Cameras lingered. Fans copied the stance. Players noticed.
It captured AFCON’s gravity. Football brushes against unfinished history without explanation.
The moment briefly soured when an Algerian player mocked the pose after DRC’s Round of 16 exit. The backlash was swift.
An apology followed. Boundaries were crossed and redrawn.
Nkuka emerged as an unlikely symbol of the tournament. Recognition followed. Gifts from the sports ministry. A role as a sports and culture ambassador.
AFCON has always elevated stories that sit just beyond the pitch..,
African Prints
AFCON 2025 delivered some stunning kits. Bold colors, intricate designs, cultural details; everything you want from a tournament that celebrates African identity.
Botswana’s home kit was a thing of beauty, blending light blue and black with white wave-like accents. Rad choice for a landlocked country. The design felt fresh and modern while still honoring the nation’s colors and spirit.
Zambia’s away jersey featured a bold orange base with black accents on the neckline and sleeve cuffs. It was the only memorable part of Chipolopolo’s dreadful campaign, but at least they looked good while crashing out. Sometimes that has to count for something.
My favorite was Mali’s home jersey.
The geometric pattern was inspired by the country’s national flag and incorporated shapes found in traditional Malian garments like the boubou. It was a work of art, a visual representation of culture and heritage stitched into fabric.
These kits matter.
They remind us that AFCON is not just a football tournament but a celebration of African creativity, craftsmanship, and identity.
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History for Nabadda
AFCON 2025 also delivered a moment that carried real significance beyond the pitch. Ugandan referee Shamirah Nabadda took charge of her first Africa Cup of Nations match during Benin’s 1–0 win over Botswana.
At 29, she became the first Ugandan woman to officiate at the men’s AFCON.
This was not ceremonial. Nabadda arrived with credentials. CAF Women’s Referee of the Year. Experience across Women’s AFCON, CHAN, the Olympics, and FIFA youth tournaments. Her presence felt earned, not symbolic.
Representation matters most when competence leads the way. Nabadda delivered that without noise.
The Lows
Senegal’s walk-off and the chaos that followed
The final will be remembered for its collapse as much as its conclusion.
Referee Jean Jacques Ndala awarded Morocco a penalty in the 98th minute after VAR review of El Hadji Malick Diouf’s challenge on Brahim Diaz. Senegal was already furious after having a goal ruled out moments earlier.
Amid sensational scenes, head coach Pape Thiaw, still incensed by Ndala’s decision moments earlier to disallow a Senegal goal, ushered his team off the field. Former Liverpool striker Sadio Mane stayed on the pitch and tried to encourage his Senegal teammates to finish the game.
The image of Mane pleading with his fellow players while they walked toward the tunnel will be one of the enduring images of this tournament.
Following a delay of around 17 minutes, the players did eventually return. Real Madrid forward Diaz, the tournament’s top scorer with five goals, was trusted with the penalty, but his tame Panenka effort was caught by Senegal keeper Edouard Mendy, who barely had to move. Ndala immediately blew his whistle for full-time.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino echoed criticism of the scenes, describing acts made by some Senegalese players and supporters as ugly.
“We also witnessed unacceptable scenes on the field and in the stands. We strongly condemn the behaviour of some supporters as well as some Senegalese players and technical staff. It is unacceptable to leave the field of play in this manner, and equally, violence cannot be tolerated in our sport,”
Infantino wrote on his social media.
The walk-off was unprecedented and deeply troubling. Whatever grievances Senegal had with the officiating—and there were legitimate questions about some of the decisions, abandoning the pitch is never the answer.
It set a dangerous precedent and cast a shadow over what should have been a celebration of African football.
That said, the frustration was understandable.
The disallowed goal looked legitimate to many observers, and the decision to award Morocco a penalty in the dying moments of the match felt harsh. Football has a protocol for dealing with controversial decisions, and walking off the pitch is not part of it.
Senegal crossed a line, and the criticism they received was warranted.
AFCON thrives on chaos, but order still matters.
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Egos and Infrastructure
Nigeria’s Victor Osimhen, for all his brilliance, provided one of the tournament’s major lows when he demanded to be substituted and stormed down the tunnel during the Mozambique game because Ademola Lookman did not pass him the ball for a hat-trick.
It was a petulant display that reminded everyone that the Super Eagles’ biggest enemy is often their own internal ego.
Osimhen is a world-class striker; however, his behavior was childish and selfish. Football is a team sport, and his tantrum undermined everything Nigeria had built in that match. The fact that they still won 4-0 does not excuse his actions.
Leaders do not sulk when things do not go their way. They stay on the pitch, they encourage their teammates, and they put the team first. Osimhen failed on all counts.
The incident raised questions about the culture within the Nigerian camp. If your star striker feels entitled to throw a fit because he did not get a chance to complete his hat-trick, what does that say about team unity?
Nigeria has the talent to win AFCON, but they will never realize that potential if individual egos continue to take precedence over collective success.
There were also the shameful scenes that Morocco coach Walid Regragui lamented after the final. Bottles were thrown onto the pitch.
Accusations of refereeing bias. Administrative friction regarding Senegal’s security. AFCON is a world-class product on the pitch, but the unhealthy atmosphere surrounding the final showed that there is still work to be done in how these matches are managed under extreme pressure.
Uganda’s Rare Three-Goalkeeper Episode
Speaking of Uganda, most teams do not even field their first reserve goalkeeper at a major tournament, but somehow, the East African country burned through all three keepers that the team coach brought along to this AFCON in one game; their last of the group stage, against Nigeria.
The vastly experienced Denis Onyango picked up an injury early in the second half to prematurely terminate what was possibly the last AFCON appearance of the 40-year-old’s international career.
On came Salim Magoola who after shipping three goals in the opening game versus Tunisia, might not have expected to have any more part in the tournament.
All he would have were just 10 minutes, during which he conceded the second goal and got sent off for handling the ball outside his box.
And that was how, even before the opening hour of the fixture had elapsed, Put found himself reaching for his third-choice goalkeeper, Nafian Alionzi, who like Onyango and Magoola before him, was beaten once in the 3-1 loss which sealed the Cranes’ exit.
Unusual. Chaotic. Perfectly AFCON.
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Scarce Tickets Breed Empty Seats
Ticketing challenges have long been associated with major football tournaments in Africa, but the situation at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco escalated into what many supporters now describe as an unprecedented crisis.
Match tickets have not only surged sharply in price but have also become virtually impossible to obtain through official channels.
Concerns first emerged earlier in the tournament when supporters complained about wide discrepancies between official ticket prices and what was being sold at stadiums.
One Senegalese fan disclosed that he paid 1,500 Moroccan dirhams for a Category 1 ticket, almost double the official price, which was estimated at half that amount.
That early price inflation has since given way to a full-blown shortage.
As the final approached, tickets were reportedly unavailable nationwide. Traditional ticket outlets had no stock, while the official CAF ticketing platform showed zero availability across all categories.
It was almost comical listening to SuperSport commentators talk about packed and full stadiums while their own camera crews panned across hordes of empty seats. The disconnect between what was being said and what was being shown was jarring and embarrassing.
According to one analysis published on December 30, nearly half of AFCON’s group-stage matches had attendance levels below 40 percent of stadium capacity. The matches with high attendance rates were, unsurprisingly, those involving Morocco, Egypt, and Algeria.
The rest played to half-empty stands.
The root cause is the ruthlessness of the ticket resale market. A Category 1 ticket priced at 500 Moroccan dirhams; about $50 could end up on the secondary market with markups ranging from 300 percent to more than 2,000 percent, depending on the game.
This is not unique to AFCON, but it is more consequential on a continent where sports ecosystems are fledgling and per capita incomes are the lowest in the world.
CAF and its partner organizations should crack down on price gouging with measures like limiting bulk purchases, enforcing attendee verification, and adopting anti-bot technologies. But there is no escaping the structural issues that affect the ability of African football fans to attend AFCON matches.
The continent’s low levels of disposable income and the high cost of intra-African travel are barriers that no amount of policy tweaking can fully overcome.
Still, CAF needs to do more. Empty seats at AFCON matches are unacceptable when millions of fans across the continent would give anything to be there.
The secondary market for tickets needs to be regulated more aggressively, and CAF needs to ensure that tickets are getting into the hands of actual fans rather than resellers looking to make a quick profit.
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