Morocco have made undesirable African soccer historical past after turning into the primary nation to lose each the lads’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and the Ladies’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) finals on residence soil.
Softfootball gathered, on Sunday 18 January 2026, when the Atlas Lions misplaced 1–0 to Senegal in a chaotic AFCON 2025 ultimate performed in Rabat.
The match was tense and extremely controversial, as Senegal strongly protested a penalty awarded to Morocco throughout added time.
The choice sparked chaos on the pitch and briefly threatened to derail the ultimate earlier than play finally resumed. Senegal went on to attain the decisive objective in additional time to seal their second AFCON title.
This defeat echoed the same heartbreak for Morocco in ladies’s soccer. Earlier, in the course of the WAFCON 2024 match, additionally hosted by Morocco, Nigeria produced a champion’s efficiency to stun the hosts 3–2 within the ultimate at Rabat. The Tremendous Falcons got here from two targets all the way down to safe a dramatic comeback victory, clinching a record-extending tenth Ladies’s Africa Cup of Nations title.
Morocco’s internet hosting of each WAFCON 2024 and AFCON 2025 has sparked widespread debate throughout the continent. Nigeria Tremendous Falcons star Asisat Oshoala has been among the many most vocal critics, expressing her dissatisfaction with the Confederation of African Soccer’s resolution to award consecutive main tournaments to the North African nation.
With two finals misplaced at residence in a brief span, Morocco’s formidable internet hosting period has delivered historic moments, but additionally painful classes, as continental glory slipped away in each males’s and girls’s competitions.
