Mustapha Hadji gave Kooora an ambiguous response to accusations that refereeing favoured Morocco in the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal. The identity of the continent's champion remains unknown pending a ruling from the Court of Arbitration for Sport in the well-known case.
Final dispute remains unresolved
Hosts Morocco reached the final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations against Senegal at the start of this year. Claims that the officials favoured the hosts followed the tournament throughout, and they boiled over in the final.
Senegal's players objected to Congolese referee Jean Jacques Ndala's decision to award the Atlas Lions a penalty in the closing minutes of normal time. In protest, Senegal's players walked off the pitch.
Hadji did not give a direct answer
Hadji refused to give a definitive answer about those accusations and pointed instead to Morocco's strength on the pitch. The Morocco legend said, in a video interview with Kooora to be published later,: "The Senegal team is very, very strong, and we wished to win the Africa Cup on the pitch, but before the final we played against strong teams too, such as Nigeria, Mali and Cameroon, so the road to the final was difficult."
He added: "Morocco were strong and overcame all their rivals on the pitch after producing a high level before the problem that occurred in the final."
Call for better refereeing standards
Hadji concluded his remarks in this regard by saying: "I hope the African referees will be at a high level like the players. It cannot be that the African teams and players are at a wonderful level while refereeing on the continent is below standard."