The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations hosted in Morocco marked a decisive turning point for African football.

It wasn't just an organizational success. It blew up an alibi.

Morocco did not organize an exemplary AFCON. It set a standard. Success is no longer a shield; on the contrary, it reveals a higher level of expectation.

Not only because of the quality of its organization, but above all because it has confirmed a now undeniable reality: African competition has reached the level of exposure, requirement and comparison of the major world leagues.

At this level, one rule applies everywhere: success no longer protects, it exposes.

For a long time, the Africa Cup of Nations was part of a narrative of progression. This framework, legitimate yesterday, is no longer sufficient today. The tournament has been driven by an exceptional level of play, embodied by established global stars like Sadio Mané, Mohamed Salah, Achraf Hakimi, Victor Osimhen, and Riyad Mahrez, who have nothing left to prove, but much to demand.

Alongside them, a new generation of players under 23 has emerged with remarkable maturity. Talents like Ibrahima Mbaye, Malick Diouf, Bazoumana Touré, Christian Kofane, Ibrahim Maza, and Lamine Camara have exemplified a young African talent already ready for the highest level, both tactically and mentally. This generation demands no leniency: it sets the pace.

From then on, the Africa Cup of Nations was no longer seen as a competition "in development," but as a global sporting product, immediately comparable to the NBA or the UEFA Champions League. And in this world, the performance of the players automatically demands a similar level of institutional rigor.

The NBA understood this long ago: at the highest level, refereeing errors are not denied, they are explained. Transparency, education, and accountability have become tools for protecting the credibility of the game.

UEFA, for its part, defends its standards through strict protocols and codified communication, where the system takes precedence over the individual.

The Confederation of African Football (CAF) is at a crossroads. The Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) now boasts elite talent, an international audience, and growing commercial value. In this context, silence or opacity are no longer prudent stances, but reputational risks.

Refereeing and VAR crystallize this transition. At this level of intensity and exposure, they can no longer be seen as instruments for protecting authority, but as services rendered to the integrity of the game. The higher the level, the less opacity is tolerated.

The public, too, has changed its status. Informed, connected and accustomed to international standards, it does not demand excellence out of emotion, but out of consistency.

His expectations are proportional to the level of play observed.

The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations did not mark the end of a cycle. It opened a new era, where sporting greatness demands an equivalent institutional responsibility.

African football has grown.

His players are ready.

It is now up to its governing bodies to live up to this level of maturity.

"Africa has reached a threshold. From now on, the demands change."

Mactar N. Ndiaye

Senior Consultant in S4D and Sports Economics - Braak Consulting

Founder of the Sports & Trades Institute of Dakar