Édouard Mendy: ‘Winning Afcon was 10 times better than the Champions League’
Édouard Mendy reflected on his Senegal career and retirement in an interview published on 22 September 2026, saying “Winning Afcon was 10 times better than the Champions League” and recalling the Africa Cup of Nations final at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah in Rabat.
Mendy described the closing stages of that final in Rabat, where he faced a stoppage-time penalty from Real Madrid’s Brahim Díaz after a 17-minute delay during which he and most team-mates went to their dressing room in protest at the referee’s decision to penalise El Hadji Malick Diouf following a Morocco corner. Senegal had a goal disallowed minutes earlier, Mendy said his towel was taken by Ismael Saibari — for which the Bayern Munich forward later apologised — and he complained about lasers being directed into his eyes as the Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala continued to officiate; Mendy is also noted in the interview as the goalkeeper who won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021.
Describing the penalty, Mendy said: “I realised two steps before he shot … usually when a player does a Panenka they slow down for the last step, but I noticed he did it early,” and added that he knew the taker’s preferred side and was able to stand up and catch the ball. Four minutes into extra time, Pape Gueye scored and, according to Mendy’s account, Senegal and he were crowned African champions for the second time in four years.
The article notes that more than seven months after Morocco were awarded a 3-0 victory in March when the Confederation of African Football ruled Senegal had forfeited the final by leaving the pitch, a preliminary hearing for Senegal’s appeal is set to be heard at the court of arbitration for sport in Switzerland next month.
On the final itself Mendy said: “The only thing we have to remember is that the game went to the end. We went off the pitch but the game restarted. For me there is no issue because the final was completed – we were given the trophy and celebrated in our country. That was it. When you speak to me about the Afcon, I just simply tell you that: ‘Yes, we have won it twice.’ That’s nothing against the Moroccan people or anyone else. It’s just how we feel. I’m not a lawyer but it’s just common sense. You can’t change something that has already been decided.”
Since the tournament Mendy has won a second successive Asian Champions League with Al-Ahli, sustained a knee injury against Norway at the World Cup and, at the age of 34, announced his international retirement last week; a phone call from Senegal’s new manager, Patrick Vieira, “could not persuade him to change his mind and potentially add to his 59 caps.” Mendy described Vieira as “a legend” and recounted asking for time to consider the offer before telling Vieira he would “stick to my decision.”
Mendy said he expects Senegal’s next generation, including Monaco’s Lamine Camara — the midfielder who almost joined Chelsea in the summer — and Aston Villa’s Ibrahim Mbaye, to follow the team’s recent achievements. He also recalled that the Teranga Lions were crowned African champions for the first time in 2022, “around eight months after Mendy kept a clean sheet in the 2021 Champions League final,” a sequence he framed when comparing the importance of the two titles.
On individual honours, the interview records that Mendy was named best goalkeeper at FIFA’s now defunct The Best awards but missed the Yashin trophy to Gianluigi Donnarumma; both goalkeepers have been nominated again for this year’s award. Mendy said: “To be nominated for the Yashin trophy while I play in Saudi Arabia means a lot to me. My journey has not been easy – everything is about working hard and being resilient. When I see goalkeepers in Senegal wearing the No 16 jersey it makes me so proud. It means that at some point I gave them some inspiration and this is very powerful.”
Mendy detailed his early life and charitable work, saying he was born in Normandy, began his professional career at Cherbourg, endured a year out of the game after successive relegations and was later given another chance by Marseille. He is supporting a school in his parents’ hometown of Keur Massar that has recently expanded to 200 students and runs a scheme to back budding entrepreneurs, saying: “There is so much talent in Senegal and we have a young population that is very dynamic. That’s why it’s important to give them the opportunity to have a better life. When my mum sees the school she is so proud and that is the biggest gift anyone can have.”
More than seven months after CAF awarded Morocco a 3-0 victory in March over Senegal’s abandonment of the final, a preliminary hearing for Senegal’s appeal has been scheduled at the court of arbitration for sport in Switzerland next month.