Sudan's Brave AFCON Run Ends in a 3-1 Knockout Shock by Senegal
3 January 2026
Match Overview
The Sudan national team bid farewell to the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations with a logical 3-1 defeat to Senegal in the Round of 16 on Saturday evening, featuring notable contributions from several of its stars.
Senegal's Teranga Lions overran the Falcons of Sudan with goals from Pape Gueye (29th and 45+3) and Ibrahim Mbaye (77th), after Amer Abdullah opened the scoring with a clever strike in the 6th minute.
SofaScore, the statistics site, noted that since the introduction of the Round of 16 and quarterfinals in the Africa Cup of Nations, winger Amer Abdullah became the first Sudanese to score in these rounds.
Historical Context
And this is the second time the Sudanese national team advanced from the group stage since lifting the Africa Cup of Nations in 1970.
They reached the quarterfinals in 2012, where they lost to Zambia 3-0, and repeated the feat by reaching the Round of 16 in Morocco 2025.
Punchline 1: If football were a bank, Sudan just cashed in on hope and got charged in the fine print—Senegal deposited the goals anyway.
Punchline 2: On the bright side, Sudan's defense finally learned how to spell 'net'—it's the only word they managed to keep in the back of the net after all those attempts.
