First came Qatar. Until Saturday, the Qataris held the unhappy distinction of being the worst-ever World Cup hosts on the pitch, having failed to win a single game on home soil in 2022. That shadow had hung over years of enormous investment in the sport, investment designed as much to rehabilitate Qatar’s global image as to build a genuine footballing culture.

Their opening assignment at the 2026 World Cup was Switzerland — the strongest side in their group, ahead of Canada and Bosnia. Few gave them any hope. But Julien Lopetegui’s side had other ideas. A penalty converted by Breel Embolo in the 17th minute put the Swiss ahead, and the script seemed to be writing itself. It didn’t.

Qatar absorbed the pressure, stayed competitive, and were rewarded in the 95th minute when veteran Boulam Khoukhi — Algerian-born, Qatari by naturalisation — met a precise delivery from defender Homam Al-Amin and headed home the equaliser. Qatar’s first-ever World Cup point. For the Qatari footballing project, and for the wider Arab football world, it felt as significant as a win.

Then came Morocco. With all due respect to the various hosts’ opening fixtures, Morocco vs Brazil at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey was the first truly great match of this World Cup.

85,000 people — the vast majority of them Brazilian — packed the arena expecting a samba show from Carlo Ancelotti’s side, from Vinícius Júnior, Raphainha, and company. What they got was a very different spectacle. Morocco, despite having moved on from the golden generation of Hakim Ziyech, Youssef En-Nesyri and Romain Saïss, showed immediately that they have no intention of letting the 2022 magic fade. That tournament saw them reach the semi-finals and finish fourth. This feels like the continuation of something, not the end of it.

In the first thirty minutes, the roles felt reversed. Morocco played like the Brazilians used to — total midfield control, attacking full-backs bombing forward, the kind of football that makes you lean forward in your seat. Achraf Hakimi on the right, Noussair Mazraoui on the left, and above all 18-year-old Ayoub Bouaddi simply terrorised the Brazilians. Bouaddi’s story is one of the tournament’s most compelling: a product of French youth football who, after being overlooked by Didier Deschamps for the senior squad, chose to represent Morocco instead. He’s also a mathematics student. Already, clubs including Arsenal are reportedly keeping a close eye on him.

In the 21st minute, the performance got its reward. Bouaddi won the ball in midfield, Brahim Díaz of Real Madrid released a sublime pass, and Ismaël Saibari finished with a composure and flair that would have made any Brazilian proud — lifting the ball over Alisson to silence the stands.

Brazil, stung, responded. Bruno Guimarães found Vinícius Júnior in the 31st minute, and the forward did what only he can do — cutting inside from the left with lethal efficiency to equalise.

The half ended 1-1, but the message had been sent. Morocco under Mohammed Wahabi — the Belgian-Moroccan coach who previously won the Under-17 World Cup with this same generation — are younger, fresher and more dynamic than under Walid Regragui. “We have a young squad, and we will only get better,” Wahabi told reporters in the mixed zone after the match. “There is a lot to learn from this game, but we are in good shape.”

The second half was more balanced. Morocco couldn’t sustain the same ferocious intensity, and the Brazilians had chances, though not the performance their supporters had hoped for. In ten minutes of stoppage time, Nayef Aguerd’s last-gasp effort was kept out by a fine Alisson save.

1-1 at full time. Two Arab nations, two 1-1 draws, and one statement of intent to the rest of the tournament.

The first is a vast mosaic of colourful flowers bearing the inscription: La Pelota Vuelve a Casa — “The Ball Comes Home.”

The second is a painted wall featuring the emblems of the three host nations, with the words: “We are Mexico City. A city with football in its heart.”

These two signs may sound like minor details, but for anyone who loves football and World Cups and has just arrived in Mexico, they serve as a reminder: remove your shoes, for the ground beneath your feet is sacred. This is a place where football runs deep in the veins, and where the connection between the beautiful game and the host of the World Cup’s opening match is felt in every corner.

Mexico City is a colossal metropolis. An endless sprawl of some 30 million people that has always been a centre of civilisation. It was the heart of the Aztec Empire — one of the great cultures of Mesoamerica, the indigenous Americas before the Spanish arrived — when it was known as Tenochtitlán. Notably, football in one of its earliest forms, a rubber ball game called Ōllamaliztli, was a tradition thousands of years old played right here in this very city by its native cultures, including the Aztecs. The city later became the centre of the Spanish Empire in the Americas, after being conquered in 1521 by Hernán Cortés, who renamed it Ciudad de México.

One of the city’s most important arteries is Avenida Tlálpan, along part of which runs an ancient aqueduct built by the Aztec king Moctezuma and later renovated, expanded, and used by the Spanish. Along the entire boulevard — kilometres upon kilometres through this vast, unending urban landscape — enormous murals cover the walls, all depicting Mexican and Latin American football stars rendered in a style that draws on Aztec and indigenous mythology. Cuauhtémoc Blanco, Diego Maradona, Pelé, Diego Forlán, Ronaldinho, and dozens more, including players from Mexico’s women’s national team.

Two days before the opening whistle, one of the most congested roads in North and Central America was further clogged by protests: workers’ organisations demanding their rights, particularly around rest hours; doctors and nurses calling attention to the sanitary conditions in hospitals; and animal rights activists demonstrating against the city’s pre-World Cup street-cleaning campaign targeting stray dogs.

Organising the biggest World Cup in history — with 48 teams spread across three countries (Mexico, the USA, and Canada) — is no simple task, and reports of glitches and irregularities have already emerged. Referees’ visas refused, players subjected to interrogations: things that did not happen at previous tournaments. So far, though, these incidents have occurred only in the United States. In Mexico, things move at a different pace — slower, quieter — and the chaotic atmosphere surrounding this World Cup has yet to fully take hold here, even if the extensive construction work around Azteca Stadium has added to the disorder.

Despite the unrest, Edgar Hernández, a driver for a large transportation company, tells BabaGol: “The protests happen and you can understand why people are out there — it always happens when the whole world is watching Mexico. But it’s a great honour for every Mexican that Azteca and Mexico are hosting the World Cup for the third time. You can’t help but feel the emotion. There’s nobody who isn’t happy about this.”

What is worrying some locals, however, is the national team itself, which has not made it past the round of sixteen in forty years — not since the last time Mexico hosted. “We don’t have one truly great star,” explains Paula Sánchez, a Mexican supporter and blogger, speaking to BabaGol. “But maybe that’s actually a good thing. We have Raúl Jiménez — he’s our face, and we trust him to lead. A lot will depend on the atmosphere inside Azteca. If the players show they’re fighting and we open with a win, everyone will be behind them. But if it ends in a draw, all those tens of thousands of fans could become a source of pressure that breaks the players.”

It’s a crucial point. Azteca Stadium is the historic cathedral of World Cup football. It will become the first stadium ever to host three World Cups, and its story is inseparable from the story of this city — the city that was the centre of the Aztec Empire and then the Spanish Empire, a place with temples dedicated to indigenous religions, to Christianity, and yes, to football as well.

The day before the opening match, the entire area around the stadium was packed with supporters from across the globe. “I’ve already been to six World Cups,” says “Pulpilto” Sánchez, a Colombian fan who is a familiar face on the World Cup circuit. “Coming to Mexico City feels different. It’s a dream come true. This place carries enormous significance for the World Cup,” he says, his eyes shining.

“You have to understand that much of how Mexican national identity has been constructed rests on the world knowing that a stadium of historic importance stands here,” explains Dr. Giovanni Pérez of UNAM. “In 1970, Pelé led Brazil to their third World Cup title right here in this stadium; in 1986, Maradona dribbled past all of England, touched the ball with his hand, and won a World Cup in this city that was historic and deeply symbolic for Argentina. These events have truly transformed Azteca into a temple of football, a temple of the World Cup — and they have added enormous prestige to Mexico and Mexico City, both nationally and internationally.”

After Pelé and Maradona, who will be the one to etch their name in golden letters into the history of Azteca Stadium and Mexico City before this summer is over?

We’ll find out over the coming weeks. What is certain is that a World Cup in Mexico means football and the World Cup are coming home — to a true footballing temple — and that is enough to make millions in Mexico, and around the world, genuinely moved.

It has been a stage for teams from lower-ranked leagues to showcase their quality — and a competition that made clubs from the top leagues believe they could actually win a European title.

London and Madrid are two of football's great powerhouses. Every season, we expect to see the biggest names from these cities in the later stages of European competition. Yet for Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano, reaching a European final was something that existed only in dreams — until 2026.

Both clubs represent the suburbs of their cities. Crystal Palace lifted their first-ever trophy just a year ago, winning the FA Cup. Rayo Vallecano, on the other hand, have never won a domestic title, never played in a Copa del Rey final, and their best-ever finish in La Liga was eighth. For the English side, this was their debut season in European football altogether. Their Spanish opponents had played just once in European competition — a single appearance in the UEFA Cup, 25 years ago.

The Conference League turned their dream into a genuine opportunity. The match in Leipzig was a complete festival for both sets of supporters. You could feel it the moment you stepped into the streets. Groups of friends travelling together for another European away day. Parents who never imagined they would be at a moment like this with their child — living real football. The elderly, after decades of disappointment, finally experiencing what a chance of a lifetime truly feels like. It didn't matter whether you wore the blue and red stripes or the diagonal red stripe.

Unlike Rayo Vallecano, Crystal Palace had a handful of players who had already tasted European glory. Daichi Kamada won the Europa League in 2022 with Eintracht Frankfurt under Oliver Glasner. A year before that, Yeremi Pino lifted the same trophy with Villarreal. But on this magical night in Leipzig, the hero was Jean-Philippe Mateta.

Before this season, Mateta's only taste of European football had come as a youngster at Lyon. Since then, he had spent a decade at Mainz and Crystal Palace — scoring more and more goals, but never coming close to winning silverware. "I feel fantastic," he said at the final whistle, struggling to find the words to describe what he was feeling. "They support me a lot, as a player and as a team. They're always behind us, and we did it for them too," he added, dedicating the moment to the supporters who had shared his greatest night.

But it wasn't only his night to remember. It was also a farewell for Oliver Glasner — the man who delivered three trophies to a club that had never won any. The match's MVP, Adam Wharton, was playing Championship football for Blackburn Rovers just two years ago. Now he was celebrating a European trophy, despite not even making England's World Cup squad. These are the kind of underdogs who make their fans feel, for one night, like they belong among the biggest clubs on the continent.

In the fifth edition of the Conference League, we were given the ultimate story the competition was built for. As clubs outside the big five leagues find it increasingly difficult to compete at this level, the real challengers should be the true outsiders. Chelsea — a recent European champion who won the Conference League three years after lifting the Champions League — never truly embodied the spirit of this competition. Roma and West Ham won the title after decades of hurt, which came closer. But Crystal Palace and Rayo Vallecano are the real thing.

Tonight in Leipzig, it was a moment of crystal shining bright. And who knows when Rayo's lightning will ever get a chance like this again?

For the first time in four years, the final was held at Teddy Stadium, nestled in the nation's capital of Jerusalem.

Hapoel Be'er Sheva, the newly crowned 2025–26 Israeli Champions — fresh off their title clincher just one week ago and still riding the champagne fumes of their celebrations — arrived hoping to complete the Double for the first time in their history.

The mood in the Negev's capital had been at an all-time high in the days leading up to the final, as their title-winning campaign helped exorcise the pain of losing the championship on the final day last season.

But their mission was never going to be straightforward. Waiting for them were Maccabi Tel Aviv — the most decorated club in the country, hungry for silverware after a chaotic and deeply disappointing campaign, full of drama both on and off the pitch.

Maccabi, the reigning 2024–25 champions, had fallen off the title pace from an early stage and finished dead last in the UEFA Europa League group stage with a single point. Manager Žarko Lazetić was dismissed in January following a derby defeat to their city rivals — the first such loss since 2014. His replacement, Norwegian coach Ronny Deila, lasted just two months before departing amid suspicion of a sexual harassment case. The caretaker stepping into the Cup Final dugout was Kenny Miller — a Scottish football household name and former assistant to Deila.

On the other side, Be'er Sheva's Ran Kozuch has established himself as something of a Cup guru. Entering his fourth consecutive Cup Final, he has won the previous two editions — including the 2025 triumph with Be'er Sheva.

Teddy Stadium, packed with more than 30,000 spectators who had enjoyed fan activities throughout the afternoon, was looking as festive as ever.

The game began in the Southerners' favor. In the 12th minute, 2026 Israeli Player of the Season Kings Kangwa stole possession in midfield, switched play to Mohammed Abu Rumi, and the January signing slotted home his debut goal in red at the perfect moment. 1–0 to Be'er Sheva — a scoreline that held until the break.

The second half, however, told a different story. Maccabi took control slowly and steadily, looking a step sharper than their opponents, and their quality soon translated into goals.

In the 57th minute, a Roy Revivo corner from the right found its way to the far post, where Tyrese Asante headed it back into the box and Hélio Varela met it with a header of his own to make it 1–1. Another landmark moment for the 24-year-old Cape Verdean, who had been named in Cape Verde's 2026 World Cup squad earlier in the week.

Seven minutes later, the roles were reversed as Varela surged down the left with purpose, laying the ball off to Roy Revivo, who dribbled past Lucas Ventura and, with his weaker right foot, found a fortunate deflection that crept into the net. A fine goal from the young talent — one that drew comparisons to his father Haim, who produced similar moments of magic during his days at Celta Vigo and Fenerbahçe.

Be'er Sheva had time to respond, creating two decent chances for substitute Javon East, but the Jamaican striker lacked the sharpness required on the night.

As the final whistle approached, the game grew increasingly feisty and fractious, with clashes, fouls, and heated arguments punctuating the closing stages. Be'er Sheva's Djibril Diop was dismissed after two quick yellow cards, and when the referee did blow for full time, it brought not only yellow-and-blue celebrations but also a full-scale brawl between both benches — resulting in four red cards, two from each side.

The fallout will be for the football association to sort out. What matters tonight is that Maccabi Tel Aviv found a way to salvage a trophy from a turbulent campaign — yet another testament to the winning culture embedded in the club since the Mitch Goldhar era. It is the 25th cup in their storied history, and perhaps one of the sweetest — won in the most Maccabi way imaginable.

Photo courtesy: Shaul Greenfeld

During the first weeks of the US, Israel-Iran War, Iran's Minister of Sports, Ahmad Donyamali, and the head of the Iranian Football Federation, Mehdi Taj, addressed the issue directly, stating that as long as the war continued, "there is no chance Iran will participate in the tournament" or "play in a country that murdered our president and our citizens."

These statements sparked false reports claiming Iran had officially withdrawn from the World Cup. In reality, Iranian officials were working behind the scenes to convince FIFA to relocate their matches from the United States to Mexico. The proposal was even welcomed by Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, but was ultimately rejected by FIFA following internal discussions.

Trump casts doubt, Infantino reassures

On the other side, U.S. President Donald Trump posted on Truth Social that he was unsure whether it would be "safe for Iran's national team players to arrive in the United States" for the World Cup—further fueling speculation that Iran might withdraw.

In an effort to ease tensions, FIFA President Gianni Infantino personally visited Iran's training camp in Antalya, Turkey, during the March international break, where the team played friendlies against Nigeria and Costa Rica.

During the visit, Infantino stated: "FIFA and the entire global football community stand with Iran during this difficult time. FIFA is committed to supporting Iran and will do everything possible to ensure the Iranian national team fulfills its fixtures in the upcoming World Cup and participates as planned."

In the match Infantino attended, Iran's players stood during the national anthem holding photographs of schoolgirls from Minab who were killed in bombing attacks during the early days of the war.

Iran was drawn into Group G alongside Belgium, Egypt, and New Zealand. The team is scheduled to play two matches in Los Angeles—a city with a large Iranian diaspora community expected to turn out in strong support—and a third in Seattle against Egypt. That match was, somewhat ironically, designated in advance as the tournament's "Pride Game," before the competing teams were even known.

The designation has since become a point of contention, with both the Iranian and Egyptian federations requesting its removal, citing "unreasonable branding considerations."

A possible hint

Will Iran participate in the World Cup or not? A possible clue may emerge from next week's AFC Champions League fixtures. Due to the war, the West Region Round of 16 was postponed and consolidated into a centralized knockout tournament set to take place in Saudi Arabia.

Tractor Sazi, the Iranian club from Tabriz, was drawn to face Shabab Al-Ahli Dubai. In recent weeks, the club had requested a venue change on safety grounds, claiming it was "not safe for an Iranian team to travel and play in Saudi Arabia." However, on Saturday evening—following several hours of ceasefire—the club confirmed it would travel to Saudi Arabia as planned.

A club, of course, is not a national team. But given the deep hostility between Iran and its Gulf neighbors, the prospect of an Iranian team playing in Saudi Arabia against an Emirati side once seemed unthinkable. Now, it is happening.

Is this a sign of things to come regarding Iran's World Cup participation? Possibly—but the answer remains far from simple.

From the Iranian federation's perspective, as long as the ceasefire holds, there is no formal obstacle to participating as planned—even accounting for the earlier statements from the sports minister and federation chairman. Moreover, potential sanctions, fines, and lasting damage to Iran's standing within FIFA could prove more harmful to Iranian football than any negative press generated by showing up.

"All teams have confirmed their arrival"

"From FIFA's perspective, there are no changes to the match schedule. All teams have confirmed their participation, and Iran is one of them," a senior FIFA official told BabaGol.

A source within the tournament's organizing committee added: "At this stage, we have received no indication that Iran will not arrive in the United States or set up its base camp in Tucson, Arizona, as planned. Like everyone else, we are monitoring developments around the ceasefire and are in contact with FIFA, the White House, and all relevant parties. The situation is being continuously evaluated, and the halt in fighting naturally creates a different atmosphere."

All efforts to ensure Iran's participation

Throughout the US, Israel-Iran War, football has been deeply affected—at times even serving as a symbolic battleground reflecting the broader tensions between Iran, the United States, and Israel.

From the controversy surrounding Iran's women's team at the AFC Women's Asian Cup in Australia, to the suspension of leagues and tournaments across the Middle East; from the dismissal of national team star Sardar Azmoun after he posted support for Dubai's ruler following Iranian missile strikes on the emirate, to the bombing of the Azadi Sports Complex in Tehran—and even the renaming of a street that once honored Iranian legend Ali Daei, due to his perceived "lack of support for the war effort."

Whether the ceasefire between Iran, the United States, and Israel holds or not, further developments regarding Iran's World Cup participation are expected in the coming days. But as long as the fighting remains paused, it appears that all parties involved will do everything in their power to ensure Iran's national team arrives in the United States and competes at the 2026 World Cup.

Not because of Champions League results, but due to a stunning decision: the Confederation of African Football (CAF) declared Morocco African champions, just two months after they lost 1–0 to Senegal in the Africa Cup of Nations final in Rabat.

That final was already a bizarre affair. Controversial refereeing decisions — most notably a disallowed Senegal goal deep into stoppage time and a penalty awarded to Morocco — sparked chaos on the pitch and in the stands. Senegal's players walked off in protest, plunging the stadium into disorder.

Eventually, they returned. Brahim Díaz of Real Madrid stepped up to take the spot kick — but squandered it with a sloppy Panenka. In extra time, Senegal scored, secured a 1–0 victory, and celebrated their second AFCON title.

Two months later, everything changed.

CAF's appeals committee ruled that Senegal had effectively forfeited the match, awarding Morocco a 3–0 technical victory — and with it, the continental title.

The ruling was based on Articles 82 and 84 of CAF's regulations. Article 82 addresses failure to appear, abandoning the field, or refusing to play. Article 84 states that such actions result in an automatic 3–0 defeat. According to CAF, Senegal's conduct met these criteria following Morocco's formal complaint.

"This is a dirty game"

The fallout was immediate.

The Senegalese FA announced it would appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) within 48 hours. "This scandalous decision harms African football as a whole," the federation said. "We will act swiftly to defend Senegalese football at CAS in Lausanne."

Players reacted furiously on social media. "Come take the trophy and medals — they've lost their minds!" wrote Moussa Niakhaté, posting a photo with the silverware. "This isn't AI — it's real."

Fodé Ballo-Touré responded with laughing emojis alongside a photo of the trophy, while Maccabi Haifa defender Abdoulaye Seck was more pointed: "The cup is already with me — if they want it, they can come and try to take it. This is a dirty game."

Even Morocco is surprised

One of the most unexpected reactions came from Morocco itself.

"The federation never intended to challenge sporting performance," the Moroccan FA stated. "Only to ensure the events aligned with regulations. A formal response will follow after consultations."

The tone suggests that even Morocco did not expect CAF to overturn the final result. Their appeal reflected a familiar instinct in African football — challenge controversial decisions — but not a genuine belief that a completed final would be reversed.

"There's a chance CAS will overturn this," a Moroccan FA official told BabaGol. "It's extremely difficult — almost impossible — to change a referee's decision after a match has been resumed, played, and decided on the field."

Morocco's players have echoed that sentiment through silence. No posts, no interviews — a quiet acknowledgment, perhaps, that being handed the title retroactively is deeply problematic.

Legal battle ahead

Should the case reach CAS, CAF could face serious embarrassment.

Senegal is expected to argue that the match was never abandoned — that it concluded with the referee's final whistle. They are also likely to contend that Article 82 was misapplied, since the game resumed under the same conditions and reached a legitimate conclusion.

Crucially, referee Jean-Jacques Ndala allowed Senegal back onto the pitch, and Morocco continued playing for an extended period. That, Senegal will argue, validates both the match and its result.

"Changing the winner of a completed final is an extreme overreach," said Abdoulaye Sow, a Senegal FA spokesperson. "If you want to punish delays, that's one thing — and Senegal wasn't the only side involved — but calling it a refusal to play? After extra time was played and a champion crowned? It's absurd, scandalous, and wrong. We will take this to CAS — and win."

Additional sanctions

CAF's appeals committee also issued a number of further rulings:

Ismael Saibari's suspension for stealing goalkeeper Edouard Mendy's towel was reduced to two matches, and his $100,000 fine was cancelled. Morocco's FA retained a $100,000 fine for the disorder between the stands and the pitch, while a separate fine related to the conduct of ball boys was reduced to $50,000.

Not the first scandal

CAF has a long history of contentious rulings later overturned by CAS.

In the 2019 CAF Champions League final, Wydad Casablanca's players walked off in protest, and referee Bakary Gassama awarded the title to Espérance of Tunisia. CAF subsequently reversed the decision, declaring Wydad champions — only for CAS to overturn that ruling and restore the trophy to Espérance.

History may now be repeating itself.

All eyes turn to CAS as Senegal prepares its appeal, hoping for a resolution before the next World Cup — or at least before the next AFCON. Until then, one thing is clear: among fans, players, coaches, and officials alike, almost no one in African football is taking CAF's decision seriously.

A story so big that U.S. President Donald Trump himself weighed in repeatedly, engaged directly, and pushed for a resolution.

After all, it's not every day that players from a national team openly refuse to sing their country's anthem before a match, becoming international heroes and a symbol of courage. It's not every day that those same players receive explicit threats against their lives and their families—and in the very next match, sing the anthem with trembling voices and forced salutes. It's not every day that footballers signal "SOS" in sign language through a bus window, pleading with fans to help them escape. And it's certainly not every day that players traveling abroad for an international tournament defect, flee, and receive political asylum—in the middle of a war.

This isn't a Netflix script, a film, or a thriller novel. This is the story of Iran's women's national team over the past ten days.

Before arriving in Australia for the 2026 Women's Asian Cup, no one imagined that by the tournament's end, six players would remain behind—following direct pressure from Trump on Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to grant them asylum, amid war in Iran and credible threats to their lives.

"I'm very worried about my family. I haven't spoken to them since we left for the tournament," one player told BabaGol anonymously before the team's final match, as the storm surrounding the squad intensified. "I just want this tournament to be over."

After that conversation, Iran lost to the Philippines—their third defeat in three matches—and were eliminated. But the real drama unfolded outside the stadium. Fans, many from the Iranian diaspora in Australia, attempted to block the team bus from leaving. Inside, players signaled distress. Outside, supporters tried to help those who wanted to defect.

"We rushed to block the road to stop the bus and save their lives," said Omid, an Iranian-Australian fan who was present. "But the police didn't understand and held us back. To us, it looked like a kidnapping. The players were hostages."

Then came a full-blown geopolitical drama. Trump tweeted and applied direct pressure on Australian authorities to offer asylum to the entire team. It worked—partially. Five players escaped through a hotel emergency exit after slipping past Iranian security personnel. According to reports, Australian police, immigration officials, and interior ministry representatives were waiting for them, whisking them to a safe house and granting them asylum.

A photo published by Australia's Interior Minister Tony Burke, showing the five players without hijabs, went viral. "The girls are safe!" "There is hope!" "Why only five?"—millions asked online. In the psychological theatre of the war—dubbed "Epic Fury" on the American side—the image became a potent symbolic victory for the liberal West over what many framed as a repressive religious East.

Two more players joined them the following day. But then one reversed course—reportedly disclosing the safe house location to Iranian authorities, triggering chaos and raising suspicions that she may have been planted to sabotage the effort. Unlike the six who stayed, she rejoined the team en route through Malaysia and returned to Iran.

The Fans' Victory

Athlete defections from authoritarian regimes are nothing new. Soviet athletes did it throughout the Cold War. Venezuelan and Cuban athletes continue to do so today. More recently, Iranian judoka Saeid Mollaei defected after refusing to withdraw from a match against Israel's Sagi Muki—as ordered by Iranian authorities. Threatened and effectively disowned, he fled and now competes for Azerbaijan.

These remarkable stories—Mollaei's and now the women's team—offer a window into Iranian society and the role of sport within it.

Football is Iran's most popular sport among its 90 million citizens. During the Shah's era, golf once carried a certain prestige, but football gradually became the country's defining game, mirroring its social fabric in ways no other sport could.

A Goal in a Hijab

Tehran's two biggest clubs, Esteghlal and Persepolis, command millions of supporters—men and women alike—across Iran and Central Asia. But they are far from the only major clubs in the country, and certainly not the only identities represented in Iranian football. The reigning champions, Tractor Sazi of Tabriz, represent Iran's large Azerbaijani population, and for more than a decade their supporters have been chanting "Death to the dictator!" at matches—long before Israeli and American air cooperation brought Khamenei's rule to an end.

In that sense, Iranian football is a contest of competing identities, reflecting the many layers of a complex society: regime loyalists and opponents, the religious and the secular, Persians, Azeris, Arabs from Ahvaz, Lurs, Kurds, nomadic communities, and more.

What unites all these groups under a single banner is Iran's men's national team—Team Melli. Though it officially represents the Islamic Republic, with its flag and anthem, the players have long used it as a platform to say: "We do not belong to the regime. We belong to the entire Iranian people."

At the 1998 World Cup, the regime forbade Iranian players from shaking hands with their American opponents before the Iran–USA match. In defiance, the Iranians walked onto the pitch carrying bouquets of flowers and presented them to the U.S. players in an unforgettable gesture. At the 2022 World Cup, before Iran's opening match against England, the players refused to sing the anthem in protest and in solidarity with the hijab uprising then sweeping the country. Just as with the current women's team, they sparked fierce debate, pushed the issue onto the global agenda, and became cultural heroes both inside Iran and far beyond its borders.

Within all of this, women occupy a particularly charged space in Iranian football—first and foremost as fans. Women are barred from football stadiums in Iran, justified by the religious argument that it is immodest for a woman to watch men play sport. That reality, which has eased slightly in some cities and venues in recent years, gave rise to the widespread phenomenon of Iranian women disguising themselves as men in order to attend matches.

In 2019, one such Esteghlal supporter, Sahar Khodayari, was caught and sentenced to years in prison and lashes. She set herself on fire outside the courthouse and later died from her injuries. Her story came only a few years before the hijab protests that erupted following the death of Mahsa Amini—the young woman killed by the regime's morality police for not wearing her headscarf "correctly."

And while being a football fan in Iran is fraught, being a female footballer or coach is even more so. Organized women's football in the Islamic Republic has existed only since the early 2000s, in a league men are not permitted to attend. From the outset, it was a lively and combustible arena—one that attracted intense scrutiny in a football-mad country operating under strict religious constraints, and drew curiosity from around the world.

"In 2011 we arrived for a match in the Olympic qualifying tournament, but FIFA and Olympic officials disqualified us because we came onto the field wearing hijab," former Iran player and coach Katayoun Khosrowyar told BabaGol. "It was a humiliating moment, but that was when we decided no Iranian girl should ever have to go through that again." The players launched a campaign and lobbied both the Iranian federation and FIFA. A year later, the international governing body approved the wearing of hijab for Muslim women footballers worldwide.

Alongside stories like that one, Iranian women's football has generated its share of absurd and painful episodes. Because the players compete wearing hijab, the women's national team has on more than one occasion been accused of fielding men disguised as women—a slur that has drawn ridicule and mockery from rival supporters. One case even reached formal legal proceedings: after Jordan lost to Iran on penalties in the 2022 Women's Asian Cup qualifiers, the Jordanian federation filed an official complaint with the AFC and FIFA against Iran goalkeeper Zohreh Koudaei, claiming she was male. She was not. Koudaei countersued and won.

The Price of Defection

All of this makes women's football in Iran—and Iranian sport more broadly—a rich and revealing lens through which to understand a society that is anything but monolithic, and the place of women within it.

Sport, and football in particular, remains a deeply male-dominated world. That is precisely why being a woman footballer takes courage everywhere—and even more so in a totalitarian theocratic state like Iran. It is no surprise that the story of Iran's women's national team captivated the world the way it did, even as war convulses the Middle East. It had everything: football, war, courageous women, geopolitics, Trump, Iran, raw emotion, fear, suspense, and a visceral clash between East and West.

From one vantage point—particularly an Israeli one—it may be tempting to ask: how is it possible that not every player did everything in her power to defect and seek asylum? But reality, like Iran itself, is far more complex. Beyond the sheer difficulty of escaping a delegation under the watch of regime representatives, each of those players has a family and an entire life waiting at home. A decision like that—even before the act itself—is like hurling a burning torch at your own past, and risking never seeing your loved ones again, or worse, exposing them to danger.

On the other hand, not fleeing—returning to Iran and absorbing the consequences—means swallowing fire and facing the daily injustices of life under such a regime. In a sense, to be an Iranian woman footballer caught in the position these players found themselves in over the past week is to be trapped in total helplessness. Almost regardless of what they choose, they lose. Even those who defect and begin a new life lose the world they came from—at least until the regime falls.

Those were the words of one of Iran's women's national team players, who competed this past week at the Women's Asian Cup in Australia. Since the outbreak of war, the Iranian women's team has become a symbol of courage—and of the Iranian people's desire to break free from the Islamic Republic. Now, the story is taking a dangerous turn.

After a third and final defeat in the group stage—a 2–0 loss to the Philippines that ended their tournament—players were seen signaling "SOS" in sign language from the team bus, which was under the control of Islamic Republic officials.

The Iranian women's team became a global story after their opening match, in which they refused to sing the national anthem. Following that, the players and their families reportedly received threats, including promises of severe punishment upon their return to Iran. Now that their tournament is over, and with local activists calling for them to be granted political asylum in Australia, the situation appears to be escalating.

A Brave Protest Before the World

Tensions surrounding Iran's participation in the Women's Asian Cup began even before the first match. The team arrived just days before the outbreak of the "Roar of the Lion" war. At the pre-tournament press conference, forward Sara Didar broke down in tears when asked about her relatives in Iran amid the conflict.

"We are all worried and saddened by what has happened to Iran and our families. We love them," she said.

After an AFC communications officer intervened and asked journalists to refrain from questioning players about politics, Didar left the press conference in tears. Head coach Marzieh Jafari added: "We are deeply concerned about our families and loved ones, and all Iranians inside the country, from whom we are completely cut off. We will try to focus on our football and achieve the best result possible."

The defining moment came before kickoff in their opening match. Just as Iran's men's team had done at the 2022 World Cup against England—when players refused to sing the Islamic Republic's anthem—the women stood silent ahead of their match against South Korea.

TV cameras zoomed in on their faces: lips sealed, expressions tense. The footage quickly went viral. A genuine act of protest against the regime, during wartime, while wearing the national jersey. A moment of extraordinary courage. They lost the match 3–0, but in the eyes of the world, they were the real winners of the day.

"I Just Want It to End"

Alongside the wave of admiration came fear—among players and Iranian fans alike—that the Revolutionary Guards might target their families back home. Before their second match against Australia, the entire squad saluted and sang the anthem loudly. The reason: threats against the players and harassment of their families in Iran.

They lost 4–0. The following day, on an Islamic Republic state broadcast, a prominent presenter called the players "traitors" and warned they would face consequences upon returning. In Iran, punishment for such perceived "betrayal" can mean imprisonment, torture, or even execution.

"I am very worried about my family. I haven't spoken to them since we left for the tournament," one player told BabaGol, speaking anonymously. "I just want this tournament to end," she admitted following the loss to Australia.

In Australia, meanwhile, the Iranian diaspora began mobilizing. A fundraising campaign was launched for the players and their support network, alongside a petition calling for them to be granted asylum—signed by nearly 50,000 people at the time of writing.

"The Players Are Hostages"

The most chaotic—and perhaps most heartbreaking—moment came after the final group-stage match, the 2–0 defeat to the Philippines.

Fans from the Iranian-Australian community had gathered outside the stadium, initially to chant against the regime and show solidarity with the players. Flags of a free Iran, bearing the lion emblem, were visible in the crowd.

As the team bus pulled away, fans began shouting "Stay!" and "Don't leave!" From inside the bus, the players responded in sign language: "Help." It confirmed the deepest fears about the danger they now face.

"We rushed to block the road in an attempt to stop the bus and save their lives," Omid, an Iranian-Australian supporter who was present, told BabaGol. "But the Australian police didn't understand and held us back. From where we stood, it looked like a kidnapping. The players are hostages."

After three losses, nine goals conceded, and none scored, Iran's women's team was set to return home via Turkey, crossing the land border into Iran by bus.

The team traveled under the watch of Iranian government representatives. At the same time, pressure was mounting in Australia—from the diaspora and human rights advocates—for authorities to grant the players asylum, both in light of the threatened "punishments" and the escalating war. On social media, many called on FIFA to intervene as well.

The Sydney Morning Herald subsequently reported that five players had managed to escape and were under the protection of Queensland police on the Gold Coast. Meanwhile, representatives from sports bodies, human rights organizations, and activist groups were working with authorities to extend the team's stay in Australia and prevent their forced return to Iran.

FIFA had yet to respond, preoccupied as it remained with questions surrounding Iran's men's national team, whose participation in the upcoming World Cup is increasingly in doubt.

Iran's women's team will not win the 2026 Asian Cup—but there is little doubt they are its most impactful side, having delivered one of the most powerful moments in recent women's football history.

Five weeks, 48 teams, 104 matches. One tournament spread across the United States, Canada, and Mexico, unfolding amid an especially turbulent geopolitical reality in an increasingly tense and polarized world.

Between Mexico's war on drug cartels and the conflicts shaking the Middle East, the 2026 World Cup is set to become a stage unlike any before. At the center of it all—or perhaps above it—stands one man: U.S. President Donald Trump. His final act at the end of his first term as the 45th president was fighting to secure hosting rights for this very tournament alongside his neighbors to the north and south.

Eight years have passed since then. Much has changed. Now Trump is president again—the central host of a World Cup after which, it seems, nothing will look quite the same.

"Trump's political statements often resemble a sports media event more than traditional politics," says Bar Umansky, a branding and stratefy consultant as well as a researcher of American politics and culture, speaking on the Goal to the World Cup podcast by Israel's public broadcaster Kan.

The way Trump announced last Saturday's strike on Iran illustrates exactly what Umansky means. He stood at the podium wearing a gray baseball cap with "USA" in classic navy-blue lettering—looking more like the first pick in the NBA Draft than a head of state. That's his style. Annexations, military threats, dramatic speeches: it's all a show.

Returning the Favor to FIFA

In recent months, Trump has threatened to annex Canada and spoken about striking cartels in Mexico—his World Cup co-hosts. He floated the idea of "purchasing" Greenland, detained Venezuelan migrants, triggered upheaval across the region, and most recently led a joint strike with Israel on Iran that resulted in the assassination of Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

Throughout all of this, he has kept football and the World Cup firmly in his orbit. A replica of the World Cup trophy sits on his Oval Office desk. He lifted the Club World Cup trophy alongside Chelsea players, invited Cristiano Ronaldo to the White House, accepted FIFA's Peace Award, and even proposed renaming "soccer" to "football" in the United States—displacing American football. Such a shift would shake the foundations of American sports culture.

"The story here is Trump's relationship with the NFL and FIFA," explains Eden Roitfarb, BabaGol's North American football expert. "FIFA president Gianni Infantino gives him a global peace award, allows him to host the World Cup, and hands him a massive platform."

In a sense, football—the global game not invented in the U.S.—has become for Trump a perfect vehicle for amplifying his ideas. The constant media storm he generates is not only outward-facing; it is directed inward as well. The U.S. is grappling with multiple crises: the Epstein files revelations, inflation eroding the middle class, protests over immigration policy, and tensions surrounding ICE operations—all against the backdrop of upcoming elections.

A Defining Moment

"Trump thrives on tension and inconsistency," Umansky adds. "Trying to assign deep meaning to every move can sometimes give him too much credit. Much of it is designed to create noise that looks great on camera."

That doesn't mean every move Trump makes is calculated to perfection. Nor does it mean the upcoming World Cup is inherently "good" or "bad" for the sport. But it does mean that everything is unfolding within a distinct Trump consciousness—one in which ambiguity is a feature, not a bug, designed to keep everyone captivated.

With 75% of its matches set to take place in the United States, this World Cup will largely unfold in a country navigating a new phase of self-definition. In an era of chaos, football provides emotional order and collective meaning—and that suits Trump perfectly.

More broadly, in a tournament that is redefining the scale, pace, and commercialization of the game, a rare convergence is taking place with significant implications for football's future. In private conversations, a senior FIFA official told BabaGol that a World Cup host nation typically adapts to FIFA's rules—but based on preparations for 2026, this could be the first tournament where FIFA, even at its highest levels, operates under the influence of the sitting president, and perhaps even in his service.

How will all of this affect football's standing in the U.S.? Senior figures at U.S. Soccer and FIFA told BabaGol that after this World Cup, "there's no going back" when it comes to the sport's place in American culture.

Some even believe football could surpass hockey in popularity and potentially challenge baseball as the third most popular sport in the country. Whether that happens remains to be seen. But football is already embedded in American life—among younger generations, within Latino communities, in academies, on television, and among the millions following the Premier League and Champions League. If the U.S. national team makes a deep run, with Trump in the stands, it could become a defining cultural moment.

One thing is certain: the 2026 World Cup will unfold at Trump's pace—fast, unpredictable, filled with grand declarations, all in pursuit of shaping an alternative reality. Consider this scenario: Iran's national team—whether representing the Islamic Republic or a new, free Iran—arrives on American soil for its first tournament. One can only imagine what Trump would make of that moment.

At the same time, Trump carries a long-standing feud with the NFL, rooted in his failed attempts to purchase a franchise and the league's embrace of political protest, most notably Colin Kaepernick's kneeling during the national anthem. The renewed "football vs. soccer" debate is, in part, another way for Trump to jab at the NFL—and return the favor to Gianni Infantino.

Beyond that, football helps sustain Trump's own brand identity. "The world of sports, and the World Cup in particular, creates legitimacy around identification with flag and anthem," says Umansky. "It generates a very specific sense of belonging—and Trump uses that mechanism to 'launder' ideas of Americanization and the values of Make America Great Again. It fits him perfectly."

The “Board of Peace” convening today, Thursday, at the Donald Trump Institute for Peace in Washington brings an intriguing development in the world of sports: FIFA will be involved in the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip.

As outlined in the event’s program, a presentation from the international football organization will detail FIFA’s plan to rehabilitate sports and football infrastructure in Gaza.

According to sources within the football body, the initiative includes the restoration of sports facilities, stadiums, and smaller pitches, alongside grant programs and budgets aimed at “promoting sports employment” for young people in the Strip.

In October, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said that FIFA would help restore football in the city of Gaza and the wider Palestinian territories, including rebuilding facilities destroyed during Israel’s two-year military operation in Gaza.

“It’s something that is really important for FIFA to be here to support, to help, to assist, to make sure that this peace process comes to fruition,” Infantino said after signing a document outlining plans for regional stability and reconstruction.

“Football’s role has to be to support, to unite, to give hope. We will help to rebuild all the football facilities in Gaza, bring football back together with the Palestinian Football Association, and create opportunities for children through the game.”

The presentation is scheduled after remarks from various speakers representing member countries of the Board of Peace, including Emir Ibn Tamim Al-Thani from Qatar, Hakan Fidan, the Turkish Foreign Minister, and Moustafa Madbouly, Egypt’s Foreign Minister. Israel’s Foreign Minister, Gideon Sa’ar, will not be speaking.

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]]>FIFA to Lead Gaza Football Reconstruction ProjectAfricaWest AfricaEuropeEmmanuel ChinazaThu, 05 Feb 2026 19:14:01 +0000https://www.babagol.net/blog/2026/2/5/from-mavlon-to-plze-salim-fagos-rise58931e136b8f5b21e08707fb:5899db8cf951af3867c557d9:6984e71a21b03f4cb1d08517January 27th. The year was barely started but somewhere in Pilsen, Czechia, an eagle had landed. Braved the cold and snowy winter, Salim Fago was putting pen to paper on a bumper deal for Czech giants, Viktoria Plzeň. 

The €2.4 million move was widely celebrated back home, but it also raised the bar for Mavlon graduates. As Hector Ruiz Arroyo, CEO of HRJ Sports Management — the agency that facilitated the transfer — described it, the deal was a “motivation for every young player at Mavlon.”

“For Mavlon FC, this is a very important move,” Hector told BabaGol in an exclusive interview.

“We are happy to see the player develop and grow in his career. He also serves as a role model and a source of motivation for the younger players.”

Salim had already proven his quality long before Plzeň came calling, delivering consistently for his former club NK Istra. With seven goals in 19 league and cup appearances this season in Croatia, he established himself as a striker not to be taken lightly.

As club delegates and scouts hovered around Morocco during the AFCON tournament — where Nigeria’s national team were competing — eyes were firmly fixed on the new golden boy of Nigerian football. The stage was set, and fate did the rest.

He may not have played as much as he wanted during the tournament, despite returning home with a bronze medal, but as the noise begins to fade, the questions grow louder: can the Super Eagle rediscover the form that earned him his senior national team debut — and, more importantly, can he take Europe by storm?

For Salim, the chance to play European football was central to his decision to join Plzeň.

“Of course, playing in Europe was one of the main reasons I signed for Plzeň,” Salim told BabaGol exclusively.

“The motivation is twofold — the sporting opportunity to join a club that will offer me the best development, and the desire to participate in one of the world’s most prestigious competitions.”

Last week, he stepped onto the pitch for the first time in the blue and red stripes of Plzeň. What stood out most for the 23-year-old was the warmth of the reception.

“Making my debut with my new club was an important moment for me, just like for any player,” he said. “Feeling the strong support of the fans and experiencing the demands of a new competition was very positive.”

From Mavlon, Nigeria to Europe’s big stage — what does the future hold for Czechia’s new eagle?

Before making his European debut, Salim must first fight for his place in Martin Hyský’s side. A run of Chance Liga matches awaits, offering him the opportunity to settle, adapt, and prove his value.

If he earns that trust, the bigger test lies ahead: a Europa League knockout clash with Panathinaikos. Clear that hurdle, and the dream continues — not just for Salim Fago, but for every young player at Mavlon who now dares to believe the path to Europe is real.

Everyone has seen the reports: Cristiano Ronaldo launched what is being described as an “Italian strike,” skipped Al-Nassr’s Saudi Pro League match, and is also expected to miss the next game. The football world immediately jumped into speculation mode = where next? A romantic return to Sporting? A “fixing the past” move back to Manchester United? Or even an MLS contract alongside Lionel Messi?

But before diving into how serious these rumors are and what Ronaldo’s next destination might be, it’s crucial to understand the dramatic domino effect that unfolded over the final two days of the Saudi winter transfer window in 2026 - a chain reaction involving some of the biggest names of the last generation, now threatening the very structure of the Saudi football project in its current form.

The winter transfer window in Saudi Arabia had been relatively quiet. Until the final days, only 15 deals had been completed, most of them involving no major names.

But beneath the surface, in Jeddah, the ground began to shake.

After two months of negotiations between reigning champions Al-Ittihad Jeddah and their biggest star, Karim Benzema, talks collapsed. According to sources within the club, Al-Ittihad wanted to free up budget space and asked Benzema to restructure his contract: no fixed base salary, only performance-based pay and commercial deals arranged by the club, based on “image rights” usage.

Benzema — who, since arriving in summer 2023, had become the most powerful figure in the club (involved in coaching appointments, dismissals, and recruitment decisions) - felt disrespected. He took it personally and decided to leave.

It’s important to remember: the four major Saudi clubs: Al-Ittihad, Al-Hilal, Al-Nassr, and Al-Ahli, are all owned by the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF). Benzema escalated the issue to league officials and PIF representatives, and suddenly, Al-Hilal entered the picture. Because of the scale and cost of the deal, one of the world’s richest Saudis and a lifelong Al-Hilal fan, Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, stepped in to help finance the transfer. Benzema became an Al-Hilal player.

That’s when the real chaos began.

Cristiano Ronaldo watched as the fund enabled a massive move that significantly strengthened Al-Hilal - Al-Nassr’s direct city rival and main title competitor - in a league title race he himself has still not won.

Part of the anger stemmed from the fact that Al-Nassr’s only winter signing was Haidar Abdulkarim from the Iraqi league. Another part, according to sources in Saudi Arabia, was Ronaldo’s belief that PIF invests more heavily in Al-Hilal than in Al-Nassr.

His frustration turned into action: Ronaldo boycotted the cup match against Al-Riyadh (which Al-Nassr won 1–0), and according to unverified reports, even left Saudi Arabia for Portugal, refusing to return until the situation changes.

At the same time, N’Golo Kanté, seeing his close friend Benzema leave and Ronaldo “breaking the system”, also decided he was done. He boycotted Al-Ittihad training to force a move to Fenerbahçe. The Turkish club wanted to offload Youssef En-Nesyri, and there was an attempt to arrange a swap deal: Kanté for En-Nesyri. The deal reportedly collapsed due to Al-Ittihad failing to submit documents on time before the window closed. Eventually, both clubs requested exceptional approval to complete the transfer, and received it.

Meanwhile, Al-Hilal fans began circulating posters mocking Ronaldo’s disappearance. By Wednesday afternoon, reports started emerging that Ronaldo had returned to Al-Nassr training and was present at the club’s offices — but would not take part in the upcoming match against Al-Ittihad.

Still, the cloud hanging over his future is impossible to ignore.

On the eve of his 41st birthday, it’s becoming increasingly difficult to see Saudi Arabia keeping him long-term beyond next season. Officially, Ronaldo has a playing contract until next year, and a separate deal as a Saudi tourism and PR ambassador until 2028. He played a key role in Saudi Arabia winning the hosting rights for the 2034 World Cup, and was recently seen accompanying Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman during a visit to the White House.

So, will Ronaldo leave Saudi Arabia mid-season? Unlikely.
Will the Public Investment Fund reshuffle the resources in the summer, strengthen Al-Nassr, and re-balance the project around him? Very possible.

But either way, it’s entirely plausible that what we witnessed over the last 48 hours was the opening act in Cristiano Ronaldo’s eventual farewell from Saudi football — a saga that could have direct consequences for emerging leagues led by the MLS, and for European football as well.

To be continued.

“It was a Hitchcock script,” said Morocco head coach Walid Regragui when asked how he would define the evening. “Absolute madness. But that’s football.” Regragui, who minutes earlier had suffered the most dramatic defeat of his career, did not smile. Nor was he wrong. History will remember this final as one of the most insane football matches of recent years.

Everything was set for a perfect Moroccan celebration. Nearly 67,000 fans filled the stands of the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in the Moroccan capital, many of them arriving from the Moroccan diaspora in Europe. Over the past month, Morocco had delivered an almost flawless tournament, with modern, impressive stadiums and an atmosphere that barely resembled traditional African football. It was clean, polished, “European”. Perhaps even too much so.

The King and Crown Prince did not attend the final, but Prince Moulay Rachid, brother of King Mohammed VI, was present. Alongside him sat FIFA president Gianni Infantino and CAF president Patrice Motsepe. The three dignitaries were preparing for a final that was supposed to end in a Moroccan victory and a national celebration. But the gods of African football had other plans, and none of the honored guests could have imagined how the night would look two hours later.

THE MATCH

It was a high-quality, intense football match between the two best national teams on the continent and in the tournament. On one side stood Morocco, the hosts, disciplined, organized, defensively solid. On the other, Senegal, athletic, intelligent, confident. Many Senegalese live in Morocco, having come in search of a better life. Some are deported, some find work but are treated as second-class citizens, only a few truly integrate. Beyond the clash between Africa’s two highest-ranked teams in the FIFA rankings, this was also a meeting that symbolized something deeper for many.

Moroccan fans created a very hostile atmosphere, unleashing deafening boos every time the ball reached the feet of the Lions of Teranga. The first half was relatively balanced, with slight Senegalese dominance. Moroccan goalkeeper Yassine Bounou saved his team twice, including a huge one-on-one stop against Everton’s Iliman Ndiaye just minutes before halftime.

In the second half, Morocco started stronger. In the 58th minute, Ayoub El Kaabi missed from point-blank range a chance that felt almost certain to be a goal. From that moment, it was clear the match was beginning to turn into something else. A little bizarre. A little extreme.

Moroccan midfielder Neil El Aynaoui of Roma suffered a serious head injury and was bleeding heavily, yet remained on the pitch after receiving bandaging. Ten minutes before the end, both teams made several substitutions. For Senegal, Abdoulaye Seck, the Maccabi Haifa center-back, came on. Seck would soon play a central role in the madness that followed.

THE CHAOS

The match entered eight minutes of stoppage time. In the 93rd minute, Seck powered a header onto the post, and from the rebound Senegal scored what appeared to be the opening goal. Shock swept through the stadium. But moments later, Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala Ngambo blew his whistle for a foul by Seck, who had pushed a Moroccan defender with both hands. The goal was disallowed. Senegal’s players erupted in fury, while tens of thousands in the stands celebrated wildly.

At that point, the madness reached another level. In the very next attack, Morocco surged forward and Brahim Díaz was brought down in the penalty area. He demanded a penalty. After a minute, the referee went to the VAR screen, reviewed the incident, and pointed to the spot.

The Senegalese reaction was explosive. Players raged. Head coach Pape Thiaw instructed them to leave the pitch. In the stands, around 1,500 Senegalese fans, who had danced throughout the match, began ripping out seats and barriers and throwing them onto the pitch, along with bottles, clashing violently with Moroccan security forces.

Massive brawl between the Senegal fans and the security after the VAR call for a Morocco penalty, led the Senegalese team to get off the pitch. pic.twitter.com/gQKIzQ3rrf

— BabaGol (@BabaGol_) January 18, 2026

These were long, excruciating minutes of surreal embarrassment. A real disgrace to the occasion, and to an entire month of exemplary organization by the Moroccan FA and CAF, aimed at showing FIFA that Morocco is ready and worthy of hosting the 2030 World Cup. The world watched the African final, and the result was a severe blow to the reputation of the game on the continent.

Amid the chaos, the man who insisted Senegal would not abandon the match was Sadio Mané. Senegal’s biggest star, playing his final AFCON match before the upcoming World Cup and his retirement from international football, pleaded with his teammates to stay. He called them back onto the pitch, and as befits a team listening to its undisputed leader, they obeyed. The match resumed while Senegalese fans attempted to invade the pitch behind the far goal, were stopped, and forcibly removed. In the press tribune, Moroccan and Senegalese supporters exchanged blows.

Achraf Hakimi initially held the ball as if he would take the penalty, but then handed it to Brahim Díaz, the star of Morocco’s tournament. With five goals, leadership, and outstanding performances, Díaz had become the face of Regragui’s young Morocco. There was no more fitting player to end a 50-year AFCON title drought. Then came the astonishing and foolish moment: Díaz attempted a weak Panenka down the middle. Senegal goalkeeper Édouard Mendy caught it with ease. Still 0–0. After eight minutes of stoppage time and thirteen minutes of chaos, the final went to extra time.

Four minutes into extra time, Senegal launched a counterattack that worked to perfection. A backheel from Mané, a brilliant pass from Idrissa Gana Gueye to Pape Gueye, who skipped past one defender, then another, and unleashed a stunning rocket into the far top corner. 0–1 Senegal. The team that had been better throughout the match, felt wronged, and suddenly silenced tens of thousands in the stands, and across Morocco.

From there, it was hard for Morocco to recover. They tried, hit the crossbar, missed golden chances. A stunned Díaz, whom some even accused of missing the penalty on purpose, was substituted, but it made no difference. Moroccan fans began leaving the stadium, which emptied rapidly with minutes still to play. After three more minutes of added time, the referee blew the final whistle. Senegal were crowned African champions for the second time in five years.

THE HERO: SADIO MANÉ

Sadio Mané lifted his second AFCON trophy, having eliminated his great rival Mohamed Salah in the semifinals, and etched his name in golden letters into the history of African football. “He is a legendary player who deserves everything, including this victory, and I congratulate him on the title,” said Regragui in the post-match press conference. Once again, Regragui was right. It is time to speak of Sadio Mané in the same terms as continental icons like Mohamed Aboutrika, Didier Drogba, and Samuel Eto’o. Mané is a natural winner, a living legend of African football, and the defining star of an entire generation. His legacy at the Africa Cup of Nations is historic.

“It was important to me that we came back and played,” Mané explained to several journalists, including the writer of this column, after the match. Asked by BabaGol how he convinced his teammates to return to the pitch, he said: “I simply told them the match had to end no matter what. I prefer to lose than for something like this to happen in football. It would have given a very bad image if we had not played. I did not agree with leaving, and I’m happy everyone listened to me, because this was our last chance to win this title.” He said it briefly, then returned to the celebrations on the team bus.

As Senegal collected their medals, it was hard not to notice the grim expression on the face of FIFA president Gianni Infantino. He understood that there is still a long road ahead for Morocco, and for African football as a whole, after the madness that unfolded in the final minutes before extra time.

MOROCCO MARCH ON

On one hand, his concern is understandable. Yet Morocco, as a host nation, delivered an almost perfect tournament, and for one month made the world believe that Africa can host a truly World Cup-level event, perhaps even one that surpasses Europe. And then came the final. Senegal, another great football nation, enjoying a golden decade and more, grabbed Morocco by the throat and dragged them back to something inseparable from the essence of football on the continent: chaos. Wild, astonishing, sickening, painful, but also beautiful in its own way. And addictive.

“This Moroccan team is young. It will continue to grow, to lead, and to be a major force in African football,” Regragui concluded, after enduring harsh criticism from local journalists. “The future is good. We just need to keep reaching these stages and be ready for the 2030 World Cup.” Behind him hung an image of the Moroccan king and the kingdom’s red flag, as if waiting for the end of decades of drought without an African title.

The losing coach, Oualid Regragui, the flag and the king, watching him from the back.

“It was a final with a Hitchcockian script”. pic.twitter.com/5udgysdn43

— Uri Levy (@Levyninho) January 18, 2026

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There is hardly a public space in Morocco where football does not play a role. Everything is connected to the game. From billboards and train stations to cafés and even the National Library, which has opened an entire bibliographic collection dedicated to football and made it accessible to the public. Yes, football in the library.

Rabat Wakes Up: A Capital Caught in Celebration

Rabat is usually considered a calm and relatively quiet capital, especially compared to buzzing Marrakech or bustling Casablanca. But last Wednesday night, after Morocco’s dramatic penalty shootout victory over Nigeria in the semifinals, even Rabat erupted. The celebrations continued deep into the night.

That win sent Morocco to its first AFCON final since 2004, with a chance to lift the trophy for the first time in 50 years. The entire country was glued to screens, while tens of thousands packed the stunning new Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, creating an electric home atmosphere. With a World Cup level pitch, infrastructure more advanced than several Qatar 2022 stadiums, and a deafening wall of boos every time Nigeria touched the ball, the experience felt like a bridge between football’s past and its future. Old school passion inside stadiums built for tomorrow. It was electrifying. And scorching hot.

The Rise of a Football Superpower

The Moroccan football surge of the past three years, unfolding before the world’s eyes, is one of the most fascinating and significant stories in African, Arab, and global football.

Since finishing fourth at the 2022 World Cup, Morocco has dominated across age groups, in both the men’s and women’s games. Bronze at the Paris 2024 Olympic football tournament. Victory at the African Nations Championship with a locally based squad. A quarterfinal appearance at the U17 World Cup. A FIFA Club World Cup title at youth level, capped by a 2–0 win over Argentina with a squad of which 70 percent was born and developed in Morocco. Add the 2025 Arab Cup triumph in Qatar, achieved with a squad that did not include a single player from the current AFCON roster. Add to that Achraf Hakimi being named African Player of the Year, and Ghizlane Chebbak winning the women’s African Player of the Year award. It is staggering.

For Arab and African football, this is undeniably the Moroccan era. They are favorites in every tournament, and they are doing almost everything right.

The Kingdom of Football as a National Project

Nearly 40 million people live in Morocco, and in recent years football has become the country’s language, medium, and national project. The slogan “The Kingdom of Football” now decorates the six cities hosting this AFCON: Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangier, Agadir, and Fez. The stadiums, especially the four in Rabat, are architectural and acoustic masterpieces, without question among the best in the world today.

Yet there is also something new. The crowd filling these stadiums is not the traditional Moroccan fan base that regularly follows the country’s biggest clubs. These are not the famous ultras of Wydad Casablanca, the Winners, or Raja Casablanca, the Eagles and Green Boys. The atmosphere reflects that difference.

Leading supporter groups had a dispute with head coach Walid Regragui several months ago and have chosen not to support the national team from inside the stadiums. The result is visible. They watch from outside, while inside the stands feel different. More families, more fans from higher socioeconomic backgrounds, and many Moroccans from abroad. In fact, the initial bulk of ticket sales for Morocco’s matches in this tournament began overseas, in Moroccan diaspora hubs across France, Spain, the Netherlands, and Belgium.

“Ticket prices are very high,” explains Said Mustafa, a reporter and editor at Morocco’s Arriyadiah sports channel. “The average Moroccan usually cannot afford them. He watches the match in a café with close friends, or at home with his grandmother, his mother, and the whole family.”

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The Other Side of the Dream

This tournament is part of Morocco’s massive investment ahead of the 2030 World Cup, which it will co-host with Spain and Portugal. FIFA officials are touring the country, inspecting everything. Significant investments are also flowing in from the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia, into stadiums, hospitals, universities, and innovation centers, aiming to position Morocco as a leading force in Africa and a strong partner in the Arab world.

“We are hosting a historic tournament for Africa,” says Azem Anas, a media officer at both the African and Moroccan football federations, speaking to Israel Hayom. “This is the result of vision, investment, and organization. The credit goes to the King, who has taken football and turned it into an engine for growth and development.”

Not everyone is fully satisfied with Morocco’s football frenzy. “Life here is not simple,” says Haitham Al-Rawani, a 21-year-old Moroccan. “You work two jobs and earn 7,000 dirhams a month. A normal apartment for you and your partner costs 7,000 dirhams. Nothing is left. You can compromise and live somewhere for 4,000, but then you are stuck there. Football is great, and we all want to win AFCON, but there are still things that need to be fixed.”

Many young people share Haitham’s feelings. Ahead of the tournament, protests took place, focusing mainly on education and the healthcare system, following a case in which a woman died in an emergency room due to a series of medical failures and claims of inadequate equipment and staffing. “We want a future, not football stadiums,” protesters chanted.

Mustafa tries to put things into perspective. “The protests followed the death of a woman due to medical error. I protested too, because improvement is necessary. But it is important to understand that this is natural. We love our country and our culture and want things to be better. This changes nothing regarding the national team. On Sunday night, there will not be a single Moroccan in the world who does not support the team.”

“This Is Rabat”: Regragui’s Message to Senegal

He may be right. Rabat, usually sleepy, is filling with fans. It feels as if tonight the entire country, along with millions of Moroccans across the diaspora in France, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, and beyond, will hold its breath.

In the days leading up to the final, Rabat has been anything but quiet, and psychological warfare has already begun. “We are playing against the best team in the tournament, and reaching the final itself is a huge achievement,” Regragui said after the win over Nigeria.

Senegal, for its part, filed an official complaint with the African Confederation late Friday night, citing a lack of security, poor accommodation arrangements, the absence of a proper training ground, and a shortage of tickets for Senegalese fans. On Friday, Senegal’s team arrived at Rabat Agdal station and players were left without an escort, leading to chaos as hundreds of travelers surrounded them in an attempt to take selfies. Abdoulaye Seck of Maccabi Haifa is expected to start after captain Kalidou Koulibaly received a yellow card and will miss the final.

“The organization here is excellent, but what happened yesterday must not happen,” said Senegal head coach Pape Thiaw. Speaking about what is expected to be Sadio Mané’s final AFCON match, he added: “He is a role model for every African player and a tremendous ambassador for Africa to the world. His education, his approach to people, his humility. He is a special human being, and we are all with him and for him tomorrow.”

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Regragui was asked what would happen if Morocco fail to win the final. “The question is not only about tomorrow’s match,” he said. “It is about the next tournament, and the one after that. Morocco had not reached a final for more than 22 years. We need to build a tradition of finals, like Senegal, who reached the final in 2019, won in 2021, and are now here again. The atmosphere tomorrow will be different and difficult for Senegal. This is not Dortmund, not Marseille, not the Parc des Princes. This is Rabat, Morocco. From the first moment, they will feel it. It can motivate them, but they need to be careful. It will not be easy.”

“We are at the peak of a development process,” Mustafa concludes. “By the 2030 World Cup, new railways will be built, new hospitals, everything. Football is the locomotive, but the train has many carriages. We are on the way.”

Morocco’s challenges on the road to 2030 are clear. Improving basic infrastructure, preserving the natural passion Moroccans have for football, and connecting local fans even more to the extraordinary success already achieved. And of course, winning a first Africa Cup of Nations title in 50 years.

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But as the hours passed and the clouds slowly cleared, Rabat began to change. The sun came out, and with it, a sense of tension. A city usually calmer than buzzing Marrakech or bustling Casablanca suddenly turned into a bundle of nerves.

A Long Road Back to the Summit

Morocco has not won the Africa Cup of Nations since 1976, when they lifted the trophy in Ethiopia. In 1986, they reached the semifinals but finished fourth, a position they repeated in 1988 when they hosted the tournament for the first time.

In 2004, in Tunisia, they reached the final only to lose to the hosts. And since then, for 22 long years, Morocco failed to return to Africa’s final four.

“I am happy we made it to the semifinal, as it took us years to be here again,” head coach Walid Regragui said at the press conference a day before the match. “The four teams left in the competition are the best in Africa.”

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Rabat as the New Capital of African Football

Rabat is dressed for the occasion. The city is heavily branded as the new capital of African football, backed by four state-of-the-art stadiums and the Mohamed VI Football Academy, the beating heart of Morocco’s modern football project.

This AFCON is also a major test run ahead of the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host. FIFA supervisors are present on the ground, closely examining every aspect of organisation, infrastructure, and logistics.

In terms of facilities, Rabat is now home to four brand-new stadiums, each built to the highest international standards.

Calm Streets, Electric Stands

During the tournament, there were complaints about the atmosphere outside the stadiums. On the morning of the semifinal, Rabat felt calm, almost quiet.

Inside the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, however, it was something else entirely.

More than 60,000 Moroccan fans created a wall of sound. Every Nigerian attempt to build an attack was met with deafening boos. The noise was relentless and ear-shattering.

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A Tactical Battle, Short on Chances

The first half was played at a high level but ended goalless. Nigeria controlled the tempo for long spells, while half-chances appeared at both ends.

Before kick-off, Super Eagles legend Nwankwo Kanu told BabaGol: “Nigeria are the coming AFCON champions.” As the game unfolded, it became clear how much Nigeria could have used his experience and football intelligence on the pitch.

The second half was less attractive from a footballing perspective, but the atmosphere never dropped. The crowd kept driving Morocco forward. Official attendance stood at 65,458. Perhaps 200 of them supported Nigeria.

Nerves, Fatigue, and Penalties

After 90 minutes, the score remained 0–0 and the match went into extra time. Star players on both sides struggled to impose themselves. Nigeria managed just one shot on target throughout the entire match. Morocco produced only two.

Penalties felt inevitable.

Morocco were the first to miss, but Nigeria failed to capitalize. Nerves took over. Eventually, Fenerbahçe striker Youssef En-Nesyri stepped up and scored the decisive penalty, sending the Atlas Lions to their first AFCON final since 2004 and within touching distance of a first title in 50 years.

More Than a Win

“We are super proud,” Abdessamad Ezzalzouli told BabaGol after the match. “For more than twenty years we didn’t play a final. For my family, it’s super important.”

The fact that Ezzalzouli mentioned his family speaks volumes. It highlights the deep bond between Morocco’s diaspora players, the national team, and Moroccan identity itself, an idea that finds its most powerful expression through football. This is perhaps one of the clearest signs of the success and impact of Morocco’s ongoing football renaissance.

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A Final Like No Other, and Questions That Remain

Sunday’s final is set to be one of the strongest home-advantage matches African football has seen in decades. The passion and desire among Moroccans to see their team lift the trophy is immense.

Yet some questions remain.

The first is whether everyone is truly celebrating. Before the tournament, large-scale socio-economic protests took place across the country. Students and citizens demanded better healthcare, improved education, and less investment in football. Protests are rare in Morocco and were quickly silenced, but not everyone is swept up in the current football euphoria.

The second question concerns the essence of Moroccan football passion itself. The raw, uncompromising energy seen in Raja or Wydad Casablanca matches is unique. The challenge moving forward, as infrastructure and organization improve, is preserving that authentic love for the game across all levels of society. Moroccan football culture is rare in the global game and must remain central to this newly born “Kingdom of Football.”

Between Faith, Nation, and History

“If you build it, they will come,” goes the famous phrase. In Morocco, especially now, ahead of a first AFCON final in decades and a real chance to win it for the first time since the 1970s, these questions remain unanswered.

For now, there is only one option: come to the stadium, watch the game, and pray for victory.
In the name of Allah, al-watan (the nation), and al-malik (the king).

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In fact, football has once again become one of the clearest mirrors of Iranian society, reflecting its pain, its anger and its demand to be heard.

Over the past days, as protests across Iran have intensified and expanded, more and more athletes have stepped into the public arena. Footballers in particular. In Iran, they are not just sports stars. They are cultural icons and, in many cases, social leaders. In a country where the relationship between the authorities and the public is fragile and tense, their actions carry weight far beyond the pitch.

The current wave of protests began last week at Tehran’s central bazaar, a place that has been the socio-economic heartbeat of Iran for centuries. Triggered by the deepening economic crisis, the demonstrations quickly spread. The situation inside the Islamic Republic, especially since the Twelve-Day War, has only worsened everyday life for millions of citizens. Prices are rising, opportunities are shrinking, and patience has run out. For many Iranians, the message is now clear: enough.

The regime attempted to calm the streets by announcing food subsidies of around seven dollars per person per month. For the protesters, this was seen as an insult rather than a solution. A symbolic gesture that felt like a thin bandage placed over a deep and open wound.

Last weekend, Iran’s under-23 national team offered one of the most visible acts of protest so far. Before their opening match at the Asian Cup against South Korea, the players refused to sing the national anthem. It was a quiet moment, but a powerful one. A direct protest against the Ayatollahs’ regime and its violent response to the demonstrations.

The momentum grew quickly. Former national team player Voria Ghafouri announced that he was closing the chain of cafes he owns, openly declaring his solidarity with the protesters. Pro-regime media outlets responded aggressively, accusing him of spreading chaos and endangering innocent lives. The message was familiar. Any act of dissent is framed as a threat.

In the early stages, videos and voice recordings continued to emerge from Iran, documenting what was happening on the streets. In recent days, however, the authorities escalated their response. Internet access across the country was heavily restricted or shut down entirely. The ability to document, report and communicate was taken away. In today’s world, cutting off the internet is not just censorship. It is a way of making people disappear. According to reports coming out of Iran, the regime has already executed around 200 protesters.

With almost no internet access inside the country, much of the public criticism online has come from Iranian footballers past and present, many of whom play abroad. Like millions of Iranians living in exile, they are using their platforms to speak when others cannot. Ali Daei, Sardar Azmoun, Masoud Shojaei and several others have publicly voiced their support for the protests.

On Sunday, Mehdi Taremi, currently the most high-profile Iranian footballer, scored for Olympiacos in Greece and chose not to celebrate. Afterwards, he explained that the decision was intentional. A sign of solidarity with the protesters and with what is happening back home. The moment resonated deeply, not least because Taremi was once perceived as a supporter of the regime. Years spent abroad and life in Europe appear to have reshaped his perspective.

Today, like many others, he seems to understand a simple truth. There is no substitute for freedom, and everyone deserves a voice. Especially those living under a system that suppresses them and, when threatened, shuts down their ability to exist online at all.

The protesters in Iran will not bring down Khamenei’s regime on their own. That reality is clear. Change will require pressure, support and attention from outside.

What is certain is that Iranian football has once again aligned itself with the people. Not for the first time, and probably not for the last. It underlines the unique social role football plays in Iran, as a space where resistance, identity and solidarity can still find expression. They play, and they score, for those who have no voice.

2025 went fast.

A year that hosted the final stages of the road to the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, and once again proved how deeply football is affected by politics, power and conflict — in the Middle East and across the world.

As in last year’s BabaGol annual review, our 2025 edition focuses first on events in the Middle East, before expanding to stories from other regions we cover. This year, alongside wars and geopolitics, there were stories of power, Cinderellas, scams, and competitions - all real football anecdotes that shaped the year within the BabaGol universe.

As always, we end with the same wish: that the coming year will bring an end to suffering and peace for all innocent lives in the Middle East and elsewhere.

Previous annual reviews: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Trump’s World Cup

2025 was a year that kept producing sneak peeks of the upcoming biggest World Cup ever — the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Canada and Mexico.

From the very beginning, US President Donald J. Trump made it clear how important the tournament is for him. At the same time, FIFA, and especially its president Gianni Infantino, allowed politics to take centre stage. A replica of the World Cup trophy was placed in the Oval Office at the White House, symbolising the growing proximity between football’s governing body and political power.

As the countdown to the World Cup accelerated, Trump signalled that he intends to take the main stage not only in the preparations, but also in the event itself.

Whether it was the group-stage draw, a star-studded show watched by billions around the world, where Trump received a “consolation peace prize” (on behalf of the Nobel Prize he never won), delivered political messages, and even had his election anthem YMCA performed live by the Village People; or the surreal ticket prices for this World Cup, which drew fierce criticism from European fans despite reportedly record-breaking demand.

If that wasn’t enough, Trump lifting the Club World Cup trophy alongside Chelsea players on the pitch felt like a rehearsal. Don’t underestimate the chance that he will do the same with the World Cup winners next summer.

FIFA Club World Cup: A Sign for the Future?

Just like the Confederations Cup in previous World Cup cycles, and the 2021 Arab Cup before Qatar 2022, the United States received its first major opportunity to showcase its readiness through the FIFA Club World Cup.

While anticipation among non-European fans was high, European audiences appeared far less engaged. Still, the tournament offered early clues about what the 2026 World Cup might look like.

Time-zone challenges, extreme weather that caused delays, and matches played in front of half-empty stadiums all served as warnings. These are some of the key logistical and cultural challenges the main host nation will have to face during the World Cup itself.

Do the organisers have solutions? We will have to wait and see.

New Names at the 2026 World Cup

When FIFA introduced the idea of a 48-team World Cup, it was clear that new names would enter the global stage. In 2025, even before the March playoffs, four debutants already secured qualification.

In Asia, two familiar continental names finally broke through. Uzbekistan, a nation with a long history of near-misses and heartbreak, qualified alongside 2023 Asian Cup runners-up Jordan.

Elsewhere, Cape Verde and Curaçao scouted extensively across Europe, added diaspora players to their squads, and became two of the smallest countries ever to reach the World Cup. Curaçao even surpassed Iceland’s record, qualifying with a population of just 160,000.

Haiti Returns to the World Cup

Haiti had only one World Cup appearance, back in 1974. Few could have imagined that their return would be one of the most emotional stories of the cycle.

Amid an ongoing political and economic crisis that has plagued the country since 2018, the national team was forced to play all its matches away from home. Head coach Sébastien Migné never even visited Haiti during the campaign.

Combining Haiti-born players with footballers born in Europe and the United States, the team produced a stunning qualification, eliminating two traditional CONCACAF powers, Costa Rica and Honduras.

Following the draw, Haiti now dreams of creating another sensation in a group featuring Morocco, Brazil and Scotland.

The Israel–Gaza War and Its Impact on Football

For the third consecutive annual review, the Israel–Gaza war takes centre stage.

In Gaza, football remains paralysed due to the situation, even amid temporary ceasefires. In the West Bank, football activities have not resumed since October 7, 2023, as conditions on the ground continue to deteriorate, making any professional routine impossible.

In Israel, football returned a few months after the outbreak of the war, but its presence is felt everywhere. National anthems before matches, tributes to returning hostages, and public gestures of solidarity have become part of weekly football culture.

Internationally, the war changed how Israeli clubs were treated in Europe, most notably Maccabi Tel Aviv. After the Amsterdam incidents of 2024, West Midlands Police decided not to allow Maccabi fans to travel to Birmingham for their match against Aston Villa, citing security concerns. Political pressure from British politicians and media outlets played a decisive role, and the decision stood.

On the pitch, both national teams fell short. Palestine missed a historic Asian Qualifiers fourth-round spot following a refereeing scandal against Oman. Israel produced a heroic performance against Italy, losing 5–4 to the Azzurri, but leaving the campaign with little more than compliments.

Yet the defining football story of the war in 2025 was the death of Gazan footballer Suleiman Al-Obeid. Killed by shrapnel while waiting for humanitarian aid with his brother and two nephews, Al-Obeid’s death shocked the football world. Nicknamed the “Palestinian Pelé,” he became a global symbol and a football martyr of the war, drawing attention to the growing list of Palestinian athletes killed during the conflict.

His story reached far beyond football, influencing global opinion and pressuring UEFA and other governing bodies to publicly address the war, something rarely seen before.

Iran–Israel War and Football

The Israel–Gaza war was not the only conflict to impact football in the region. The brief but intense 12-day war between Israel and Iran also left its mark.

Leagues in both countries were halted, later resuming behind closed doors. Iranian clubs competing in AFC tournaments were forced to relocate matches to neighbouring countries. Players from both nations spoke openly about the situation, highlighting how deeply geopolitics continues to disrupt the game.

Qatar Is Here to Stay

Ahead of the 2022 World Cup, critics warned that Qatar’s stadiums would become “white elephants.” In 2025, those claims look increasingly detached from reality.

This year alone, Qatar hosted the FIFA Arab Cup, the FIFA Intercontinental Cup, the FIFA U-17 World Cup and the U-23 Gulf Cup. With the 2026 Finalissima between Spain and Argentina scheduled for Doha, and the 2029 Arab Cup already confirmed, Qatar’s World Cup infrastructure remains central to international football.

Combined with PSG’s European success and Qatar’s first World Cup qualification not as hosts, the message is clear: Qatar is not stepping away from football’s centre stage.

Saudi Arabia’s Football Revolution Continues

Alongside Qatar, Saudi Arabia further cemented its position as a major force in global football.

Since securing the 2034 World Cup hosting rights, and even before, Saudi Arabia has dramatically expanded its footprint. Al-Ahli Jeddah won their first AFC Champions League title, Saudi clubs became genuine continental superpowers, and international tournaments continued to flow into the Kingdom.

Following Qatar’s blueprint, but on a larger scale, Saudi Arabia aims to dominate football geopolitically, commercially and competitively. With FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s full backing, this process may reach its peak well before 2034.

Ronaldo’s Race to 1,000 Goals

It is impossible to discuss Saudi football without mentioning the man who transformed it overnight.

Cristiano Ronaldo, at 40, continues to chase dreams and records with relentless hunger. His race toward 1,000 career goals slowed slightly toward the end of the year, but the dream of scoring that goal number at the 2026 World Cup, perhaps at the Azteca, remains alive.

Ronaldo ends 2025 with 957 career goals, 41 of them scored this year alone. He will turn 41 in 2026. A machine. A pioneer. The footballer who paved the way for the Saudi Arabian league recent rise.

AFC Champions League Elite: A Question Mark

While UEFA rolled out its new league-stage format, Asia followed suit.

The AFC Champions League Elite introduced a centralised final tournament in Jeddah, abandoning the traditional home-and-away knockout stages. The result was mixed at best.

Sparse crowds, including matches with fewer than 3,000 spectators, highlighted the loss of atmosphere, especially for East Asian teams whose home advantage disappeared. While the AFC continues to push this model, the long-term sustainability remains questionable.

Pyramids’ Historic Breakthrough

Once viewed as an artificial project, Pyramids FC finally delivered substance.

Under Salem Al-Shamsi’s ownership, the Egyptian club won its first CAF Champions League after a dramatic final against Mamelodi Sundowns. A 93rd-minute equaliser away and a composed 2–1 home victory sealed a historic triumph.

Defeating Al-Ahli Jeddah in the Intercontinental Cup soon after may mark the beginning of a new era.

Flamengo’s South American Empire

In 2025, Flamengo reclaimed its throne.

Under young coach Felipe Luís, Mengão completed the prestigious Brasileirão–Libertadores double, battling a powerful Palmeiras side and reaffirming Brazil’s internal shift toward superclub dominance.

Led by Giorgian de Arrascaeta, a South American superstar who never played in Europe, Flamengo embodied the perfect modern South American club.

Jordan’s Arab Cup Statement

Jordan’s football renaissance continued beyond World Cup qualification.

Their impressive run to the Arab Cup final in Qatar proved that recent success was no fluke. Pushing Morocco to the limit, without star Mousa Al-Taamari, Jordan confirmed itself as West Asia’s leading national team.

Under Moroccan coaches, first Hussein Amouta and now Jamal Sellami, Jordan reached unprecedented heights.

Morocco: The Kingdom of Football

Morocco’s dominance is no coincidence.

U-20 World Cup champions, Arab Cup winners, Olympic bronze medalists, AFCON hosts, and future 2030 World Cup co-hosts. Morocco has entered a historic football era.

This is the Moroccan age in Arab and African football, and it’s only beginning.

UAE and the Identity Question

The UAE’s growing reliance on naturalised players reached a critical point.

At the Arab Cup, only one non-naturalised Emirati featured in the starting lineup. Whether this approach leads to success or identity erosion remains an open, and troubling, question.

Malaysia’s Naturalisation Scandal

Naturalisation has become a global trend, but in Malaysia, it turned into a scandal.

FIFA revealed that seven players used falsified documents to change nationality. Investigations continue, with potential consequences looming over Asian Cup qualification.

Messi Finally Wins the MLS Cup

Lionel Messi finally lifted the MLS Cup in 2025.

After near misses in previous seasons, Inter Miami stormed the playoffs. Messi finished as top scorer with 29 goals and delivered two assists in the final, leading Miami to a historic 3–1 victory.

Argentine Chaos, As Always

Argentina’s league chaos reached new heights. There is one thing that is unstable in Argentine football, the league’s format. The AFA has a long tradition of changing and mixing, but this kind of improvisation was completely new.

Rosario Central were crowned champions controversially, Estudiantes protested with a symbolic back-turned guard of honour, and Juan Sebastián Verón was banned, before celebrating among fans days later.

Pure Argentine football.

Nigeria Misses Again

For the second consecutive World Cup, Nigeria will be absent.

Despite late improvement under Éric Chelle, the Super Eagles lost the African playoff final to DR Congo on penalties, extending one of African football’s most painful downturns.

The Rise of Women’s Football

Women’s football continued its rapid ascent.

Record crowds, a successful Euro 2025 in Switzerland, and FIFA’s upcoming Women’s Intercontinental Cup confirm a generational shift. A new football culture is being born, one that values women’s football with equal passion.

Honorary Mentions

• Mjällby’s first Swedish championship

• Machida Zelvia’s rise to the AFC Champions League debut

• Cruz Azul winning the CONCACAF Champions Cup

• South Melbourne winning Australia’s inaugural Championship

• Ángel Di María’s return to Rosario Central

Previous annual reviews: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.

Long before kickoff, you could feel it in the streets, in the noise around the stadium, and in the faces of the tens of thousands streaming into the ground. This wasn’t just a football match - it was a national reckoning with a dream that had been deferred for nearly four decades.

Iraq came into the second leg of their Asian World Cup qualifiers playoff against the UAE with everything on the line. A 1–1 draw in Abu Dhabi left the door cracked open, but only slightly. There were away goals to consider, extra time if needed, and penalties if fate demanded it. Most importantly, there were at least 66,000 Iraqis in the stands, ready to carry this team with every breath.

This was the very definition of a “be-all or end-all” night: Iraq, longing for a first World Cup appearance since 1986, hosting a decisive match on home soil - something that felt unthinkable less than a decade ago. A country scarred by war, displacement, and instability, finally welcoming continental football of the highest stakes. And a team made up of players, many of whom were born in Europe to refugee families, returning to represent the nation their parents were forced to flee.

On the other side stood the UAE, built on a very different model: a lineup featuring no fewer than nine naturalised players from Brazil and Africa: two footballing worlds, two footballing philosophies, and one golden ticket to the intercontinental playoffs between them.

Then Basra exploded.

The UAE stunned the stadium early in the second half, taking the lead in the 52nd minute via Caio Lucas. Suddenly, the dream was slipping away. But Iraq didn’t break; they rose. In the 66th minute, Mohanad Ali rose highest, heading home a perfect delivery from Amir Al-Ammari to level the match and reignite the night.

From then on, the match wasn’t played; it was survived. Tackles flew, emotions surged, every inch mattered. And then came the moment that will live forever.

Deep into stoppage time of extra time - around the 107th minute - VAR intervened. Penalty to Iraq. The kind of decision that rewrites destinies.

Amir Al-Ammari stepped up, placed the ball, and with every heart in Basra beating alongside him, fired it high into the net. Pandemonium. Release. History roaring back to life.

Iraq 2, UAE 1. Iraq 3, UAE 2 on aggregate. Iraq to the intercontinental playoff.

Why this matters

For Iraq, this isn’t just a sporting achievement. It is the culmination of years of struggle, hope, and stubborn belief. A milestone for a country that has fought to reclaim normalcy, dignity, and joy through football.

They will travel to Mexico in March for the intercontinental playoff, now just one game away from their first World Cup appearance since that iconic team of 1986. Their coach, Graham Arnold, already took Australia to the World Cup from this path last time around.

In Basra, the celebrations lasted long into the night. Not because qualification is assured — far from it — but because for the first time in a long time, Iraq can look forward and see possibility.

Nights like this are why football matters.
Nights like this are why nations believe.
And nights like this are exactly the stories we tell at BabaGol.

Iraq’s dream is alive — and it’s louder than ever.

Photo courtesy: The Asian Football Confederation official social channels

Despite a squad full of stars, led by the magnificent Victor Osimhen, the Super Eagles were eliminated by the Democratic Republic of Congo on penalties in the playoff final of Africa’s World Cup qualifiers.

After 120 tense minutes ended in 1-1, Nigeria faltered from the spot, while DR Congo held their nerve to complete a historic qualification. For the Congolese, driven by discipline, unity, and inspired performances from Yoane Wissa and Chancel Mbemba, it was a night of celebration. They are 180 minutes away from their first World Cup since 1974, when the country was still called Zaire. For Nigeria, it was another brutal reminder of how far the giants of African football have fallen.

Nigeria only reached the playoffs after a CAF format change that created additional routes for the continent’s elite to qualify. Even then, the warning signs were clear. In the semifinal against Gabon, Nigeria struggled badly, lacking rhythm and cohesion. Osimhen and his teammates dragged the team through with a huge extra-time push, but the flaws in Mali coach Eric Chelle’s Nigerian squad (a shock appointment many still struggle to understand) were exposed. There was joy at the final whistle, but also a sense that something was fundamentally off.

This will be the second consecutive World Cup the Super Eagles watch from home. A team that has played in six World Cups — a team that once captured the world’s imagination in the 1990s and has won the Africa Cup of Nations three times — will miss out on the biggest, widest World Cup ever held, hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.

Yes, Nigeria went out on penalties. But the reasons run much deeper.

Years of rampant corruption within the Nigerian Football Federation, the unhealthy influence of agents, and constant meddling by ex-players eager to promote “their” talents have created chaos rather than continuity. There has been no long-term project, no real development plan, only quick fixes and fire-fighting. Nigeria’s extraordinary individual talent simply cannot compensate for the dysfunction surrounding it.

Ghana faced similar challenges, but their players managed to stabilise in time and squeeze through. Nigeria couldn’t.

Twenty-eight years ago, I sat and watched Jay-Jay Okocha, Finidi George, and Sunday Oliseh flip the football world upside down with a 3–2 comeback win over Spain, which featured Raúl and Fernando Hierro. I fell in love. With the audacity, the swagger, the West African style of play, and with underdogs. Wherever they are. This sense is one of the cornerstones of the BabaGol website in its beginning.

These qualifiers have shown how long 28 years truly are. Nigeria’s problems are now so deep-rooted that they may threaten World Cup qualification not only in 2030, but even in 2034.

Victor Osimhen — still yet to play in a World Cup — will already be 31 by the time the next one arrives. Last night, after 130 minutes against Gabon and another half of football in just three days, he pulled his hamstring and had to leave the pitch. Nigeria’s brightest star, exhausted, broken, and again denied the world stage.

His only chance at partial redemption comes next month, when the Africa Cup of Nations kicks off in Morocco. Nigeria can win it — they have the talent — but even that victory, if it happens, will come with a bitter taste.

For a nation that once set Africa’s footballing standard, missing the World Cup is becoming dangerously normal. And that should worry everyone who still believes in the magic of the Super Eagles.