Belhanda suspects agreement between Brahim Diaz and Mendy over AFCON final penalty

Nine months after the 2025 AFCON final played in Rabat, the official winner is still unknown — and speculation continues to mount. Younès Belhanda, a former midfielder for Morocco’s national team, has put forward a troubling theory: Brahim Diaz may have deliberately informed Edouard Mendy about the type of penalty he was going to attempt.

“I think they arranged it over the penalty. I think Brahim Diaz told Edouard Mendy that he was going to do that,” Belhanda said during an appearance on the Riolo Club. The former player (36 years old) was quick to qualify his remarks, however: “There is no proof, it’s a feeling.” He notably cited the reaction of Senegal’s players at the moment of the penalty — “they are not surprised” — as an element that fuels his intuition.

The context of this final is itself extraordinary. On January 18, Senegal won 1-0 after extra time, with Pape Gueye scoring the decisive goal after Edouard Mendy stopped Brahim Diaz’s panenka. But before that, the referee had awarded a penalty to Morocco at the very end of regular time, triggering the fury of the Lions of Teranga, who left the pitch without the referee’s permission. More than a quarter of an hour of interruption followed before play resumed.

It was precisely this unauthorized departure that led the CAF appeals jury, on March 17, to reverse the result and declare Morocco the winner by default (3-0). The Senegal Football Federation (FSF) contested this decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which has not yet issued its verdict.

Belhanda also acknowledged having been “upset” with Brahim Diaz over the gesture, “at first” at least. He then tempered his remarks: “But ultimately, you tell yourself: I could have been in his situation and done the same thing. If he scores it, you say it’s incredible. Look at Zidane in the 2006 World Cup final against Italy.” A comparison that illustrates the thin line between a stroke of genius and a failed gamble — but which does not answer the question that Belhanda himself raised.