JAKARTA - The 2025 African Cup of Nations final between Senegal and Morocco on Monday, January 19, 2026, in the early hours of WIB, was marred by riots.
The riots began in the second half injury time when it was still 0-0. The Senegalese players left the field when the Moroccan hosts were awarded a penalty following a foul on Brahim Diaz.
Senegal coach Pape Thiaw led his team off the pitch, while Morocco fans whistled amid scenes of the two sides arguing with each other about the VAR decision that awarded Morocco a penalty in the final minutes.
The Senegalese players finally returned after a 14-minute delay in the match after the mainstay player Sadio Mane went into the locker room to encourage them to return to the match.
Edouard Mendy then saved Brahim Diaz's penalty. However, on the other side of the field, many Senegalese supporters tried to invade the field. Tensions also increased in the press tribune with journalists fighting each other.
After the match, Morocco coach Walid Regragui criticized Thiaw's decision to pull his team off the field and defended Diaz for his penalty miss.
"I think a lot of time passed before (Brahim) was able to take the penalty. This made him lose focus. The game we played was a shame for Africa."
"When a head coach asks his players to leave the field, when he says things that have already started in the press conference (before the match, when Senegal accused Morocco of using unsporting tactics), he needs to remain classy, both in victory and defeat."
"What Pape (Thiaw) did today is not respecting Africa. He is now the African champion, so he can say whatever he wants, but they stopped the match for more than 10 minutes."
"It doesn't justify the way Brahim kicked (the penalty), he kicked it like that and we have to take responsibility. We need to look forward now and accept that Brahim failed to score," said Regragui.
The VAR decision by referee Jean-Jacques Ndala on the foul against Diaz caused a commotion between the two technical teams and players, which extended to the stands.
Senegalese supporters appeared to start jumping over billboards and into the field to confront officers and Moroccan delegates.
Security officers and riot police were forced to intervene, late in creating a barrier between the fans and the pitch, with objects thrown onto the pitch, and Senegal supporters jumping onto the electronic boards and damaging the screens on one side of the pitch.
Several Senegal supporters were ejected by authorities, while a security guard was carried out on a stretcher after apparently suffering an injury to his upper body.
During the melee, the Teranga Lions left the pitch at the instruction of head coach Thiaw - although it was unclear whether it was for security reasons or as a form of protest against the referee's decision to award a late penalty after El Hadji Malick Diouf touched Diaz inside the penalty area in the sixth minute of injury time.
Amid further scuffles on the pitch between Ismael Saibari and Abdoulaye Seck, and a yellow card for Mendy for allegedly scratching the penalty spot, Diaz finally stepped up to take the penalty. However, he was lacking confidence and a poor panenka attempt was easily caught by the Senegal goalkeeper.
The match continued into extra time. Just four minutes after the first extra time started, Pape Gueye from Senegal scored a stunning goal from outside the penalty area to give his team an advantage they would not let go.
Senegal then won the match 1-0 after no changes in the score until the second extra time despite many opportunities.
Senegal lifted their second Africa Cup of Nations title - also the second in five years - after winning it in 2021. However, the defeat suffered by the hosts was not well received by Morocco and Walid Regragui.
The course of the match was interesting.
Actually, before the riots, the course of the match was interesting. Morocco must thank Yacine Bounou for the success of keeping the score even until halftime. The goalkeeper who performed brilliantly made a brilliant save at both ends of the first half to hold Senegal.
In the fourth minute, Senegal should have taken the lead when Pape Gueye received a cross from Lamine Camara at the back post, with Bounou initially misjudging the direction of the ball. However, the Moroccan goalkeeper adjusted himself in the air and turned his body to deflect the midfielder's header under the crossbar.
It was the clearest opportunity Morocco faced from open play throughout the tournament as they got an early indication that Senegal would be a much tougher opponent than they had faced so far.
Nigeria didn't get a corner against the tournament hosts in the semi-final until extra time, but Senegal managed to get one early in the game.
The duel between Sadio Mane and Achraf Hakimi was key early in the game, with Senegal complaining at the start that the referee ignored Morocco's foul, where an early tackle against their captain was not punished. Meanwhile, Iliman Ndiaye received a warning from the referee after knocking down Noussair Mazraoui despite apparently successfully grabbing the ball.
Abde Ezzalzouli, who has been so agile since entering the starting XI at the start of the tournament, once again proved to be Morocco's most effective player.
He sent in a cross early in the game after outpacing right-back Antoine Mendy, who was forced to replace Krepin Diatta due to illness during the warm-up.
Ismael Saibari had the next golden opportunity, breaking through the Senegal defense that seemed open to him before firing wide in the 13th minute.
The match got hotter as the first half went on, with Camara getting a yellow card for a sliding tackle against Neil El Aynaoui. Bilal El Khannouss was lucky not to get the same punishment after his overzealous tackle against Pape Gueye.
Morocco's momentum did not seem to be affected by the stoppage of the match. Ezzalzouli should have done better when he got space after a corner, but the winger was only able to send his shot to the ground and fall into Mendy's arms.
Towards the last 10 minutes, each head coach made a substitution. Thiaw brought in Ismaila Sarr and talented young player Ibrahim Mbaye, then Seck came in to replace Antoine Mendy.
The home side, Walid Regragui added Youssef En-Nesyri and Ouassama Targhalline replacing El Kaabi and El Khannouss.
Adam Masina's injury in the 89th minute saw him leave the field in tears. Jawad El Yamiq came on to partner Aguerd as he did after Romain Saiss' injury in the tournament opener against Comoros.
As Morocco still tried to organise a strategy after the defeat, Bounou made his third big save of the game, jumping to his right to parry a curling shot from Mbaye.
Ezzalzouli responded immediately by attacking the other end of the field and fired a shot over the goal after being pressured by Seck.
Then entering injury time, where the referee's decision in both penalty boxes made the Senegalese supporters angry.
Senegal had previously failed to score in three finals (2002, 2019, and 2021), but thought they had scored the winning goal in the third minute of eight minutes of injury time, when Seck's header hit the crossbar from the corner after passing Bounou, before Ismaila Sarr headed the ball into the net.
The referee immediately blew the whistle after deciding that Seck had pushed Hakimi before the header even though the African Player of the Year seemed to fall very easily.
This made Thiaw and a small group of Senegalese supporters present furious. They were even more angry when, after a long protest from Diaz, both to the linesman and the referee, Morocco was awarded a penalty in the 96th minute when Diouf's arm on Diaz seemed to block him when a corner kick came.
Again, it seems to be a soft decision that benefits the hosts and proves too heavy for Thiaw, his technical staff. In the end, the Senegalese supporters triggered a clash that lasted more than 10 minutes.
After that, the situation was tense again because Diaz's penalty failure surprised more than 66,000 spectators in Rabat. The normal time match ended without a goal, with a short break before the match continued for extra time.
Morocco, who looked completely confused and lost their way after Diaz's missed penalty, were in disarray when Senegal finally opened the scoring. Gueye greeted Idrissa Gana Gueye's pass and fired a hard shot past Bounou with his left foot to turn the tide and favor the Singa Teranga.
After that, the match was intense and full of pressure. En-Nesyri and other substitutes, Hamza Igamane, seemed to target Mendy possibly in response to his behavior during the long break, but the goalkeeper remained calm and thwarted Diaz's chances.
Meanwhile, En-Nesyri missed a golden opportunity from six yards out after only being able to greet Ezzalzouli's cross with a header that went wide.
Aguerd's header then hit the crossbar early in the second half of extra time as Morocco played aggressively to find an equalizer, before Mendy was back in action as Senegal defended with difficulty.
However, they still posed a threat on the other side of the pitch, as Morocco lost more and more coordination, with Bounou forced to make a low save to thwart substitute Cherif Ndiaye's chance.
Gueye also unleashed another fierce shot straight at Bounou as things got worse, while the fighting spirit of Morocco slowly faded as time went on.
When the final whistle blew, Senegal ran to celebrate the victory with their besieged supporters, still booed by the ever-increasing ranks of riot police and stadium officials. Meanwhile, the devastated Moroccan players fell to the ground.
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