AFCON 2025 Final
Sunday, January 18, 2026
Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat

Senegal are AFCON champions for the second time in three tournaments, but this final will be remembered for the controversy.

Pape Gueye’s thunderous extra-time strike sealed a 1-0 victory over hosts Morocco on Sunday night, but the lasting image will be of chaos, a controversial late penalty, a Senegal walk-off in protest, Brahim Díaz’s missed panenka, and 20 minutes of absolute madness that turned an AFCON final into farce.

Morocco’s 50-year wait for continental glory continues. Senegal’s golden generation adds another trophy, and African football will spend years trying to explain what happened in Rabat.

The match was tense, cagey and low on quality. Then stoppage time arrived, and everything descended into chaos.

Five minutes into second-half stoppage time, referee Jean-Jacques Ndala awarded Morocco a penalty after a VAR check showed Brahim Díaz being pulled down by El Hadji Malick Diouf while defending a corner. Senegal erupted in protest.

Coach Pape Thiaw ordered his players off the field. They walked. All of them. The entire team left the pitch, abandoning the match with Morocco one penalty kick away from glory.

For 14 minutes, the final was in limbo. Officials and players jostled. Moroccan fans whistled. Riot police positioned themselves. It was Sadio Mané—captain, talisman, leader—who persuaded his teammates to return. Slowly, reluctantly, Senegal came back.

By then, the damage was done.

Díaz, who had waited over 10 minutes to take the penalty, stepped up to the spot. The stadium held its breath. Fifty years of Moroccan hurt rested on his shoulders. He’d scored in five straight matches before the semifinal. This was his moment.

He ran up. Slowed, and chipped a weak Panenka straight into Édouard Mendy’s arms.

The silence was deafening. Díaz turned and jogged back to the centre circle. No emotion. No reaction. Senegal didn’t celebrate Mendy’s save, eerily calm, as if they knew what was coming.

The whistle blew. Extra time.

Four minutes into the first period of extra time, Pape Gueye collected a pass from Idrissa Gueye, surged into the Moroccan area, and unleashed a thunderbolt into the top corner past Yassine Bounou.

1-0 Senegal. Rabat fell silent.

Morocco threw everything forward. Nayef Aguerd’s header crashed off the crossbar. Bounou made two brilliant saves to deny Senegal on the counter. But there was no equaliser. No late drama. No redemption.

The final whistle blew. Senegal erupted. Morocco collapsed. Fifty years of waiting would extend into a sixth decade.

This was Senegal’s first-ever goal in an AFCON final. They’d lost the 2002 and 2019 finals without scoring. They won the 2021 final on penalties without scoring. Now, finally, they’d done it, dramatically, controversially, and in front of a devastated Moroccan crowd.

The 90 minutes before the madness were forgettable. Morocco controlled possession but created little. Ayoub El Kaabi prodded wide just before the hour mark. Iliman Ndiaye was denied by Bounou when clean through in the first half. That was it.

Both teams were cautious, defensive, and reluctant to take risks. It felt like a final neither side wanted to lose more than they wanted to win.

Then came stoppage time, and everything changed.

Senegal will celebrate. This is their second AFCON title, both won under this golden generation of Mané, Koulibaly, and Idrissa Gueye. They’ve now won two of the last three tournaments, establishing themselves as Africa’s premier football force.

But this victory will always carry an asterisk. The walk-off. The 14-minute delay. The missed Panenka. The scenes of chaos that overshadowed the football.

Morocco will argue that Senegal’s walk-off was unsporting, that the delay affected Díaz’s composure, and that they were denied their moment by gamesmanship. They topped their group, beat Cameroon, and survived Nigeria on penalties. They carried a nation’s hope. And it ended with Díaz’s chip into Mendy’s arms.

For African football, this final will be remembered for all the wrong reasons. The chaos. The controversy. The 20 minutes of madness that turned what should have been a celebration into an embarrassment.

Senegal are champions. Morocco are heartbroken. And the AFCON 2025 final will be talked about for years..

The final whistle blew in Rabat. Senegal lifted the trophy. Morocco went home empty-handed. And African football was left asking: what just happened?