French Football Federation president Philippe Diallo has insisted that the few minutes of chaos during the Africa Cup of Nations final in Morocco should not overshadow the tournament’s overall success.
In an interview with French newspaper Ouest-France, he said the AFCON was a remarkable event, expertly hosted by Morocco, even if the closing match ended on an unfortunate note.
Diallo acknowledged that the final was marred by incidents which created “a moment of hesitation, even chaos”, affecting both players and spectators and slightly tarnishing the tournament’s image. However, he stressed that these scenes were brief and must be weighed against several weeks of high-level organisation, smooth logistics and festive atmosphere across the competition.
Addressing the controversy over refereeing decisions, Diallo noted that debates around officials are “as old as football itself” and even help fuel the social side of the game, feeding post-match conversations between friends in cafés.
He underlined that the responsibility of football authorities is to ensure that French refereeing reaches an excellent standard and that errors are reduced as much as possible, so that sporting fairness remains at the heart of major tournaments like the AFCON.
