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In the seventh minute of first-half stoppage time, with the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in full voice and the CAF Champions League final balanced on a penalty that had just cancelled out Sundowns' aggregate lead, Teboho Mokoena received the ball twenty-five metres from goal, let it drop, and struck a half-volley that crashed off the underside of the crossbar and into the net. That goal, in that moment, in that stadium, won Mamelodi Sundowns their second CAF Champions League title. The second leg finished 1-1. The aggregate was 2-1. A decade of near-misses in the biggest African club competition is over.
The context of what Mokoena's goal meant was total. AS FAR's captain Mohamed Hrimat had converted a penalty in the 40th minute to level the aggregate at 1-1 after Divine Lunga was adjudged to have fouled Reda Slim inside the area. The Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium erupted. The away goals rule, still in force in CAF's competition at this stage, meant that a further AS FAR goal would give Morocco the title without the need for extra time. Sundowns had gone from controlling the tie to facing a catastrophic outcome in three minutes. Then Mokoena struck.
The final half-hour of the match was the most demanding passage of football Sundowns have played in this campaign. AS FAR needed one goal. Sundowns needed to deny them. In the 77th minute, VAR awarded AS FAR a second penalty after Ronwen Williams spilled a shot from Ahmed Hammoudan and fouled Youssef El Fahli trying to recover the ball. Hrimat stepped up again. Williams dived left. The penalty was saved. Sundowns held on through eight minutes of additional time. When the final whistle came, the celebrations on the pitch told the full story of what the result meant.
How the Match Unfolded
AS FAR began with the confidence and tempo of a team playing at home in a final. They dominated the opening quarter of the match, pressing Sundowns high and winning the ball in dangerous areas. Mohamed Hrimat sliced a shot wide in the 16th minute after good work from Slim and Anas Bach down the right flank, a warning that was clear enough. Sundowns absorbed the pressure, found their rhythm through Mokoena and Jayden Adams in midfield, and created their first genuine chance in the 25th minute when Tashreeq Matthews drove a long-range effort narrowly wide of the upright.
The match was goalless at the half-hour mark when the VAR sequence changed everything. Lunga, who had been introduced to provide defensive cover on the left, was adjudged to have brought down Slim inside the area. The contact was minimal and the decision was contested loudly by Sundowns, but it stood. Hrimat, whose first-half shot had gone wide, now converted from the spot with composure. The aggregate was level. The stadium noise reached a level that tested every Sundowns player's concentration.
What followed in the seven minutes before half-time is what this final will be remembered for. Brayan Leon and Matthews combined on the right to work the ball into a position where the shot was blocked. The clearance fell to Mokoena. He controlled it, took one touch, and hit a half-volley that Williams, watching from the other end, described as unstoppable. The ball hit the underside of the crossbar and bounced down into the net. Sundowns led 2-1 on aggregate. Mokoena sprinted toward the corner flag. The half-time whistle followed minutes later with Sundowns back in control.
The Williams Moment
The penalty save in the 77th minute was the moment that settled the tie. Williams had given it away himself, spilling Hammoudan's shot and then fouling El Fahli in the scramble to recover. The referee went to the monitor, confirmed the decision, and Hrimat stepped up for his second penalty of the night. The AS FAR captain had scored from the spot in the 40th minute under enormous pressure. Williams had saved a penalty against Esperance in the semi-final. The sequence lasted approximately forty-five seconds. Williams dived to his left. He got both hands to the ball. It went wide of the post.
As reported by SuperSport and ESPN, Williams' penalty save in the context of the match was the decisive moment. AS FAR needed that goal to force extra time. Without it, they had to score from open play in the final thirteen minutes against a Sundowns side that had been managing exactly this kind of pressure for two legs. They could not do it. The eight minutes of additional time produced sustained pressure but no breakthrough. The final whistle confirmed what Mokoena's half-volley had started.
What This Title Means
Sundowns last won the CAF Champions League in 2016, the year Pitso Mosimane built a squad that beat Zamalek in Cairo and announced South African football as a genuine continental force. In the decade since, Sundowns have been to four finals and won one. They lost to Al Ahly in 2021, to Al Ahly again in 2022, and to Pyramids in 2025. Three consecutive final defeats before this campaign, with largely the same core of players, created a weight of expectation and near-miss that the squad carried into every knockout tie this season.
Miguel Cardoso, who was in charge for none of those defeats and arrived in Pretoria with the explicit brief of ending the wait, will now be defined by this night in Rabat. His composure across a season that included public criticism from sections of the support base, nine matches in twenty-one days before the second leg, and the loss of the domestic title to Orlando Pirates twenty-four hours before this match was required, has been total. He told reporters after the final whistle: "This is for the players, for the supporters, for everyone who believed in this club. We worked so hard to get here." The Sundowns players around him needed no translation.
The title brings $6 million in prize money and qualification for the 2029 FIFA Club World Cup, confirmed by CAF. AS FAR, who reached their first continental final since 1985, were denied a historic achievement by a single penalty save and a half-volley in stoppage time. The margin of their defeat is one that a good team loses by. They were a good team. Sundowns were better on the night that mattered.
