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By LEWIS STEELE, FOOTBALL REPORTER
Published: 11:00 EST, 19 January 2026 | Updated: 11:02 EST, 19 January 2026
Let’s be honest, it’ll go to one of Gianni Infantino’s cronies – but the 2026 ‘FIFA Peace Prize’ should be awarded to Sadio Mane.
United States president Donald Trump was the inaugural recipient of that gong, which seemed as appropriate as Morocco winning the ‘fair play award’ here at the Africa Cup of Nations.
To recap, Sunday’s final descended into chaos with ugly scenes after a soft refereeing decision handed hosts Morocco a 96th-minute penalty. Their opponents Senegal walked off in protest – most players heading down the tunnel – as travelling fans tried to storm the pitch.
Pape Thiaw, the Senegal boss later labelled as ‘shameful’ by his opposite number Walid Regragui in a press conference that nearly sparked another brawl, was adamant: his team would not re-enter the pitch.
But one man had other ideas: Mane. ‘It was I who convinced the team to return,’ he later explained. ‘The players and the coach decided to withdraw, I didn’t understand that decision, but finally I told everyone to return immediately and to play, no matter the cost.’
Edouard Mendy, the former Chelsea goalkeeper, reluctantly jogged back on as Senegal fans at the other end somehow failed to breach the wall of riot police with shields and batons. It was firm policing but also very lucky that no serious incident occurred.
Sadio Mane lifted the Africa Cup of Nations for the second time in his career on Sunday, as Senegal edged past hosts Morocco on a night of unparalleled drama and controversy
Mane, 33, kept his head as his team-mates lost theirs, persuading them to come back on to the pitch after they walked off in protest at a late penalty awarded to Morocco
There were ugly scenes in the stands too as Senegal supporters clashed with police... it was extremely fortunate that no serious incident occurred
Brahim Diaz went from hero to zero for Morocco after seeing his attempt at a Panenka penalty saved. He looked shellshocked when he received the Golden Boot from FIFA's Gianni Infantino
Then Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz tried a Panenka-style penalty that went straight into the arms of Mendy. It was so bad it looked like he had shaken hands with Senegal and missed on purpose.
His tears at the end dashed any of those suspicions as the poor lad, who until that moment had been the star of the tournament, looked like a shellshocked soldier returning from war as he accepted the Golden Boot from FIFA supremo Infantino.
By the time Pape Gueye had scored a fantastic goal to win the trophy for Senegal, every one of the 66,000-strong crowd knew they had just witnessed drama they were unlikely to experience again.
Everyone present wore a 'what-on-earth-just-happened' look on their face. Tensions spilled over in the press box as fans disguised as journalists, some chanting and waving scarves, clashed with one another. Thiaw’s post-match press conference had to be canned.
The only man that did seem to retain any semblance of calm was Mane. Now 33 and playing in Saudi Arabia, the former Liverpool man might be out of sight, out of mind in the eyes of English fans but no one can doubt the significance of the Al-Nassr forward’s list of achievements.
This was a second AFCON title, four years on from his first. At club level, his trophy cabinet includes: a Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup, German Bundesliga, Austrian Bundesliga, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup.
As far as winner's medal collections go, Mane is up there with the very best in the 21st century.
In terms of African all-time greats, how high should he be on a list alongside Didier Drogba, Yaya Toure, Riyad Mahrez, George Weah and, of course, Mo Salah? Given his achievements, you could make a compelling case for Mane to be very, very near the top as the best this continent has ever seen.
Mane, a Champions League winner with Liverpool in 2019, has a trophy collection that puts him as one of the greatest African players ever
He has had the edge on his former Reds team-mate Mohamed Salah when the pair have met at AFCON in recent years
His relationship with his Egyptian contemporary has often been sold as a rivalry and a fiery episode at Burnley in 2019, where they clashed over Salah’s failure to pass to Mane, certainly helped with that theory.
Ex-Liverpool striker Roberto Firmino later recalled in his book Si Senor: ‘Mane left Liverpool precisely because he didn’t feel as valued as Salah within the club.’ But the Brazilian was at pains to add they had ‘utmost respect’ for one another despite not being ‘close friends’.
At international level, it has been a thrilling rivalry to define a generation – both competing to be king of African football.
Mane scored the winning penalty as Senegal beat Egypt in the 2021 AFCON final, they knocked them out on the way to this title and won a play-off for the 2022 World Cup in Dakar. Mane 3 Salah 0.
That, in the eyes of many on this continent, is a leveller in the debate over who is better and, around the world on Sunday night, it was hard to argue against the merits of Mane’s illustrious career. Is it a stretch to say, four years on from his exit, Liverpool still haven't properly replaced him?
This was his last AFCON and what a fairytale ending to a story that began in the rural village of Bambali where his father, an imam, forbade him from playing sport in order to focus on his religious studies. He will still play in the World Cup, with France and Norway in their group.
At 15, he ran away from home to the capital of Dakar to become a footballer. The rest, as they say, is history – and Mane shall go down in the record books as one of the greatest African players of all time… and with it maybe one of the best of his generation across the globe.
Mane drinks in the AFCON glory with the rest of the Senegal squad - what a fairytale story it has been for the boy who ran away from home to become a footballer aged 15
Is Morocco ready to host a World Cup?
After all the drama, I could have done with a stroll and a bit of fresh air to clear my head.
Just preferably not a walk that Apple Maps informed me would be two hours in the teeming rain – and certainly not one uphill on the hard shoulder of a six-lane motorway amid a soundtrack of beeping horns and police sirens.
This job takes you to some bucket-list destinations but some of it is not as glamorous as it may seem from the outside – and that usually includes leaving stadiums.
I have battled traffic in Istanbul for the 2023 Champions League final akin to the start of a mass evacuation in an apocalyptic movie, walked down a highway in South Carolina and through a pitch-black forest in Leipzig to get home – but the Moroccan motorway journey was the worst.
There is a metro but the queues to get on were miles long.
Uber does not exist here and the alternative app, cash-only InDrive, is full of uninsured drivers, so there was one thought on my mind as I took shelter under a bridge to flag down a cab or anyone to take me back into the city: how will this city cope with the 2030 World Cup?
The stadiums are plush, especially the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium which hosted Sunday's final, and the 115,000-capacity Hassan II Stadium in Casablanca which should open in 2028 and wants to host the World Cup final ahead of Camp Nou, the Bernabeu and Estadio da Luz in Lisbon.
The pitches are the best in Africa, too, while the people here are friendly and chatty souls. Getting around the country itself is affordable, safe and reliable. There is a good rail network that connects major cities.
With the metro service in Rabat not up to scratch and Uber not an option, don't be surprised if fans experience transport chaos in Morocco at the 2030 World Cup
Morocco want the Hassan II Stadium in Casablanca to be an extraordinary 115,000-seater arena - but there's a lot of building to be done in the next few years
Daily Mail Sport's Lewis Steele ahead of kick-off in Rabat... and a scary, rain-soaked walk on the hard shoulder of the motorway!
But the in-city infrastructure around getting to the stadiums is a problem that must be addressed in the next four years.
When Daily Mail Sport was in Agadir for Egypt’s group stage, it was another nightmare leaving the stadium, though on that occasion we lucked out by talking our way on to a free shuttle bus taking AFCON staffers back into town.
The Adrar Stadium there is likely to be another host venue alongside grounds in Tangier, Marrakech and Fes.
Overall, Morocco will be solid co-hosts alongside Spain and Portugal in 2030 and North Africa deserves its chance to have the global game on its turf – but several improvements must be made between now and then.
An unforgettable but regrettable evening?
Let us all have a moment of reflection to honour the carefully-considered words that were set to appear on these pages after 90 minutes of the final.
Instead, they were thrown in the bin for several rushed and cobbled-together rewrites about the most unforgettable match of my life.
It was a pleasure to be there before a ball was kicked, never mind all the madness that followed – as E4 broadcast their most dramatic scenes since the glory days of Big Brother in the early 2000s.
This tournament has an eclectic mix of joyful cultures and passionate fans.
AFCON was a joyful mix of cultures... until the final. It will be hard to shake the memories of unrest and anger
But it was the nasty bits that I will recall first: the worry for safety of all present as Senegal fans nearly stormed the pitch, another dark day for VAR, Diaz crying, Thiaw looking ready to throw fists, journalists scrapping in the media room, ball boys trying to nick goalkeeper Mendy’s towel.
It was a stinking bit of refereeing that sparked all this but does it set a worrying precedent?
Don’t like the decision? Don’t play on. Hopefully that is not the case but president Infantino and FIFA now must act strongly to prevent that being the case.