In its ruling to award Morocco the title, Caf also "partially upheld" an appeal against an incident involving ball boys in the final, and reduced the Moroccan FA's fine for the incident. In torrential rain, Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy regularly dried his gloves, but the ball boys repeatedly tried to discard his towel. At one point Senegal reserve goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf was tackled to the ground by three ball boys and dragged around on the floor when he tried to intervene. Moroccan journalist Jalal Bounar told Newsday that Caf's decision had been welcomed "with great excitement and joy across the country". Mezahi cited Caf's decision to ban Togo from two Africa Cup of Nations for quitting the 2010 competition following a gun attack on their team bus in Angola two days before the tournament.

Source: BBC March 18, 2026 18:49 UTC