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Senegal's head coach Pape Thiaw, left, Morocco's head coach Walid Regragui, right, and Morocco's Achraf Hakimi argue after a controversial penalty was awarded in the AFCON final. (AP Photo)
Senegal coach Pape Bouna Thiaw apologised to ‘football’ after asking his players to leave the pitch following a penalty was given to host Morocco in the final of Africa Cup of Nations 2025, in Rabat on Sunday.
It was a chaotic final as Senegal walked off the pitch due to a contentious penalty and then returned to score a goal in extra time to clinch the title.
The centre of the controversy was a disallowed goal and a penalty. Senegal was protesting a disallowed goal on the other side, while referee Jean-Jacques Ndala’s decided to award a penalty to Brahim Diaz after VAR check. The VAR deemed the shirt tug on Diaz by full-back El Hadji Malick Diouf as a foul.
Angered by the decision, Thiaw first told his players to walk off the pitch before later reversing his decision.
“We did not agree with the decision, that is all, and I do not want to go back over what happened in this match. After reflecting, I really did not like the fact that I told my players to leave the pitch. I apologise to football. I brought them back,” Thiaw told beIN Sports in the mixed zone. “Sometimes you can react in the heat of the moment. We asked ourselves whether that penalty could have been given if our goal before that had been allowed. But now we accept the referee’s mistakes, that can happen. We should not have done it, but it is already done. We apologise.”
Senior player Sadio Mane played a crucial role and asked the coach to reverse his decision. He stayed on the pitch calling his teammates back.
After Senegal players returned on the pitch, Diaz’s weak penalty was saved by Eduardo Mendy and Papa Gueye scored a screamer in the extra time to win the title with a scoreline of 1-0.
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Morocco head coach Walid Regragui, with whom Thiaw also clashed after the final whistle, criticised the incident during his post-match press conference.
“The image Africa showed today is a bit shameful. When a coach tells his players to leave the pitch… As I said, in the end you always have to remain classy, in defeat as well as in victory. What Pape did tonight does not honour Africa. It was not classy, but it does not matter, he is African champion so he has the right to say whatever he wants.”
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