DAR ES SALAAM, Jan. 25 -- THE most dramatic artefact to survive the AFCON 2025 final in Rabat was not a shirt torn in protest.

Nor a VAR screenshot zoomed into eternity, nor even a coachs wounded dignity. It was a statement. A very short statement.

The kind written with clenched teeth and released with the enthusiasm of a man posting an apology he does not fully believe in.

It came from Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) and it condemned “unacceptable behaviour” during the final between Morocco and Senegal.

When football administrators begin speaking in the language of boarding-school headmasters, you know the evening has gone off the rails.

Even Gianni Infantino, a man who has smiled his way through most...