Former Nigerian international Odion Ighalo has disclosed that it will be difficult for Senegal to return their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title to Morocco.
Recall that last week, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) stripped Senegal of the AFCON title they won in January and declared Morocco champions.
CAF, in a statement, stated that the Senegal national team is declared to have forfeited the match, a 1-0 victory in the final, “with the result being officially recorded as 3-0” in favour of Morocco.
Reacting to the development, Ighalo in a chat with Brila FM, opined that CAF’s decision to award Morocco the AFCON title has taken African football five steps backward.
The former Man United star, who faulted some of the referee’s officiating, also noted that it will take a miracle for Senegal to return the title to Morocco.
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”The referee in that game [Morocco vs. Senegal] was a bit biased, but that is football—you understand how it goes,” Ighalo said.
”When Senegal walked off the pitch, I wasn’t happy about it. I even said then that Sadio Mané saved African football by convincing his teammates to return and finish the match. They came back, they played, and they won it on the pitch. I believe if CAF wanted to take action, they should have stopped the game right then and there to make a decision.
“Instead, they let Senegal win. Now, months later, they want to take the trophy away. While the rules of the game are the rules and you have to abide by them, I don’t understand how they arrived at this. It is not a good look for African football.
”This AFCON took us ten steps forward, but this decision drags us five steps backward. It has given people leverage to start disparaging African football again.
“I always challenge the foreign media outlets that talk down on AFCON and try to discourage players from attending. This is the biggest tournament in Africa; every player should want to represent their country. We are trying to push it and make it elite in the eyes of the world.
“But what just happened brings the competition down again. Now you’re allowing the likes of Jamie Carragher to say things they shouldn’t be saying about African football—things they’ve wanted to say for a long time. This just gives them more power to criticize the tournament.
“I want to commend Morocco for hosting a great tournament with beautiful stadiums and infrastructure. But now, it feels like they wanted to win it by any means, and CAF is giving it to them by any means. It feels like foul play.
“We have to go with the rules, and they say the rules are against Senegal—but you can’t expect the Senegal players to be happy or willing to return that trophy. If it were me, I wouldn’t return it. You can’t take it from me,” Ighalo added
