The curtains came down on the 2025 AFCON on Sunday, January 18th, in controversial circumstances as the Lions of Teranga were crowned champions of Africa for the second time in their history after edging the host nation 1-0 after extra time.
The final at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat was marred by unsporting behaviour in the closing stages. The decisive moment arrived three minutes into extra time when Pape Gueye scored for Senegal after Morocco had wasted an opportunity to take the lead in injury time from the penalty spot.
With the ugly scenes - which included Senegal threatening to walk out of play after referee Jean-Jacques Ndala from Congo had awarded Morocco the penalty - yet to fade away over a week after the final, the Senegalese supremo has revealed how the West Africans struggled to lift the AFCON crown.
'Morocco never thought they would lose the final'
"There were some very good teams at AFCON, but perhaps it was because of the conditions they faced that they didn't go far. We, on the other hand, were able to anticipate and be vigilant," said Fall in an interview with Wiwsport.com.
"Beyond sporting achievements, we have outstanding leaders. That’s another strength of Senegal."
He added: "Morocco never thought they could lose this Africa Cup of Nations, especially after qualifying for the final. No country has ever opposed Morocco as much as Senegal did.
"They (Morocco) control the CAF vice-presidency. They have the resources, and they control CAF. The other countries are afraid of Morocco. They're afraid to take a stand against Morocco.
"The president of the FRMF, Fouzi Leekja, is my friend; we're very close, but there are some things we don't negotiate. And that's perhaps why we got to where we are, to winning the AFCON.
"We knew we would be in very good conditions in Tangier. We had everything we needed there. But we knew that by qualifying as group winners and reaching the final, we would have to play the final in Rabat. I predicted it would be against Morocco, and that's exactly what happened."
Senegal in 'complete agreement' with Thiaw
Detailing what transpired while switching their base from Tangier to Rabat ahead of the final, Fall said they were given a hotel name 24 hours before our departure, which they later refused to stay in.
"Before this final, I entrusted Abdoulaye Sow (General Secretary of the FSF) with a fact-finding mission to Rabat to assess the conditions. This was because we had already asked the CAF and the FRMF which hotel we would be staying in," continued Fall.
"They gave us a hotel name 24 hours before our departure for Rabat. But Sow clearly told me that the national team would not be staying at that hotel. Yet all of Morocco’s other opponents agreed to stay there. But as soon as we saw the hotel, we knew we couldn't stay there because, usually, it’s our youth teams who stay there."
He added: "It’s a hotel located in the city centre, where there's noise pollution. Furthermore, they wanted to force us to train at their own base camp, the Mohammed VI Centre.
"When we received the notification, we simply refused to go and visit it.
"I've visited this camp several times. In Senegal, there isn't a more modern camp than this one. The problem is that once you're inside, you have no secrets. Everything you work on is known to your opponents.
"So why impose this camp on us for a final? We categorically refused."
Fall further defended coach Pape Thiaw on his decision to ask Senegal players to leave the pitch after the penalty decision.
"We are in complete agreement with him. Even our leaders agree with him," explained Fall. "There are details I won't go into here.
"At one point, we went down onto the pitch to ask our players to resume the match, so as not to abandon it."
The 2002 AFCON had marked the best-ever result in Senegalese football history, at the time, with the team falling to Cameroon 3-2 on penalties after a 0-0 draw in the final.
Senegal once again finished as runners-up in 2019, losing the final 1-0 to Algeria, before the nation finally won their first AFCON title in 2021, defeating Egypt on penalties in the final.
