France legend, Thierry Henry has declared that the referees at the just concluded Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) were below standard and that almost ruined a good tournament, Softfootball reports.
The World Cup winner watched the AFCON final where Senegal defeated host Morocco in the final. The center referee in that game ruled out a good goal by Senegal and few minutes later awarded a penalty to Morocco which led to the Teranga Lions walking out of the pitch.
The team was later persuaded to return by Al Nassr forward Saido Mane and the Coach. Ibrahim Diaz missed the penalty while in the first half of extra-time, Pape Gueye scored with a rocket shot to hand Senegal their second AFCON title.
During the official podcast of CBS Sports Golazo, Henry recounted his history of watching the Africa Cup of Nations and what it meant to him growing up. He revealed:
I started to watch the Africa Cup of Nations in 1988 and it was actually in Morocco. Cameroon won it against Nigeria in the final. Some names you’d remember from that team, Roger Milla was playing in that team and Joseph-Antoine Bell. I grew up watching it because in my neighbourhood that’s how it was, you watch the AFCON….I can mention the guys that also came to play in Europe, Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto’o Fils, Jay-Jay Okocha.
Henry went on to talk about Senegal walking off the pitch and the refereeing decisions that almost marred a great tournament in the end. He said:
AFCON was always a tournament I enjoyed watching because you could see skills, great teams and a good tournament. I also watched this competition (2025 AFCON). I will always watch it. The competition was outstanding… You don’t want to see a team leaving the field, and for me that’s not going to define how the tournament was. The referees are not at the level of the show. And I’m not blaming the referee but I’m blaming the people that are responsible of training the referee’s to be at the level of the football that we are watching.
Morocco still maintained their spot on the FIFA ranking as Africa’s best placed team as eight in the world, followed by Senegal while AFCON record Bronze medalist, Nigeria moved 12 places up in the ranking.
Here is the video of Arsenal legend Thierry Henry’s interview via the official podcast of CBS Sports Golazo. Watch below.
"The competition was outstanding… You don't want to see a team leaving the field, and for me that's not going to define how the tournament was. The referees are not at the level of the show."
Thierry Henry discusses AFCON and the aftermath of the final. 🗣️ pic.twitter.com/PVT3llnkBZ
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) January 20, 2026The next Africa Cup of Nation will be hosted in the East Africa countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda in 2017.
