AFCON 2025 final: The towel battle, Yehvann Diouf shares his story

Senegal's backup goalkeeper, Yehvann Diouf, revisits the infamous towel battle during the 2025 AFCON final in Morocco.

Yehvann Diouf was one of the central figures in the towel incident during the 2025 AFCON final, which saw Senegal edge past Morocco (1-0 after extra time). The Nice shot-stopper found himself harassed and dragged to the ground by ball boys as he tried to guard his teammate's towels.

"I couldn’t believe it. I actually went onto the pitch of my own accord, thinking the referee would stop the match or realize what was going on. But no, next thing I know, I’m on the ground in the box and the ball is 20-25 meters away. (…) On one hand, I wasn’t protected, and on the other, the match was still going on. It was completely surreal." recounted Yehvann Diouf after Nice’s victory over Go Ahead Eagles in the Europa League (3-1).

Joshua SOSSOU

Editorfr, en, ar

As a sports fan, and particularly a football fan, I've been putting my writing talent to good use for a number of years now to promote African talent and the continent's football in general. On Foot Africa, enjoy reading each of my lines.