Benatia slams 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final: "A beautiful piece of shit"

Medhi Benatia made no attempt to hide his frustration after the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final between Morocco and Senegal, describing the match’s conclusion as a “beautiful piece of shit” in an interview with Bertrand Latour.

The former Morocco international defender, now working as a pundit, regretted that the tournament — praised for its organization in Morocco — ended in such controversy. “I had friends who played in the Africa Cup of Nations telling me: ‘Your country is magnificent, it’s well-run, the climate is great, the stadiums and hotels are top-notch’, and then this happens…” he said.

On the sporting merits, Benatia acknowledged the quality of the match: “It was a very balanced game. Morocco had a very good Africa Cup of Nations, Senegal posed them some problems too.” But it is the handling of the incident — the match interruption and Senegal players leaving the pitch — that drew his criticism. “You get the impression this only happens in Africa,” he said.

Benatia also offered his reading of the regulations: “If you look at the rulebook, it clearly states that if you leave the pitch and no longer have enough players on it, it’s a forfeit. So the fault lies with the referee and the delegates, who didn’t make that decision.” However, he nuanced his position by noting that Senegal’s return to the pitch and the resumption of play complicated any subsequent ruling: “When you decide to come back, you play the match, you finish it and you’ve accepted what happened…”

To illustrate the ambiguity of the situation, the former Olympique Marseille sporting director drew a parallel with Manchester City, whose titles are being contested in court: “If you strip them of all their titles, they’ll tell you ‘I won on the pitch’.” His conclusion is unequivocal: “I don’t know who will decide, but it will never have the same flavor anyway.”

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) is set to deliver its ruling at the end of the month on this final whose sporting verdict remains in limbo.