{"id":64198,"date":"2026-02-15T21:50:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T21:50:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/olivier-safaris-controversial-remarks-on-afcon-2025-final"},"modified":"2026-02-15T22:29:07","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T22:29:07","slug":"olivier-safaris-controversial-remarks-on-afcon-2025-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/olivier-safaris-controversial-remarks-on-afcon-2025-final","title":{"rendered":"Olivier Safari&#8217;s Controversial Remarks on AFCON 2025 Final"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span class=\"ap-article-header-tag\"> <strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Mauritius. <\/strong> <\/span>The president of the referees\u2019 committee, Olivier Safari, has sent shockwaves through African football after making startling revelations about officiating standards at the Africa Cup of Nations 2025.<\/p>\n<p>Speaking during a recent executive meeting of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Safari disclosed that several committee members had proposed the dismissal of the referees\u2019 panel, citing \u201ccatastrophic errors\u201d and serious organizational and technical shortcomings during the tournament. The discussions reportedly followed widespread criticism of officiating decisions, particularly in the final stages of the competition.<\/p>\n<p>Safari then delivered his most controversial statement yet, referring to an incident involving the Senegal national football team. \u201cEvery Senegalese player should have received a warning upon returning to the pitch. If it had been me, I would have expelled them all immediately,\u201d he said, suggesting that match officials failed to apply disciplinary rules strictly.<\/p>\n<p>Adding to the controversy, Safari admitted that he was unfamiliar with most of the referees who officiated at the tournament in Morocco, raising fresh concerns about referee selection and oversight. His comments have intensified calls for reforms within CAF\u2019s officiating structures, as stakeholders demand greater transparency, accountability, and professionalism ahead of future continental competitions.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ap-article-footer-note\">Find more news and analyses on <span class=\"ap-highlight-country\">Mauritius<\/span> on the <span class=\"ap-highlight-brand\">Africa Press<\/span> website<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Mauritius. The president of the referees\u2019 committee, Olivier Safari, has sent shockwaves through African football after making startling revelations about officiating standards at the Africa Cup of Nations 2025. Speaking during a recent executive meeting of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), Safari disclosed that several committee members had proposed the dismissal of [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":64197,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[241],"class_list":["post-64198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-mauritius"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Olivier Safari&#039;s Controversial Remarks on AFCON 2025 Final - Mauritius<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Mauritius. The president of the referees ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/mauritius\/all-news\/olivier-safaris-controversial-remarks-on-afcon-2025-final\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Olivier Safari&#039;s Controversial Remarks on AFCON 2025 Final\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"-article-header-tag&quot;&gt; Africa-Press - Mauritius. 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