{"id":2466,"date":"2026-05-24T21:57:33","date_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:57:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/?p=2466"},"modified":"2026-05-24T21:57:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T21:57:33","slug":"breaking-sundowns-crowned-african-champions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/?p=2466","title":{"rendered":"BREAKING: Sundowns crowned African champions"},"content":{"rendered":"

RABAT<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 SOUTH African giants Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned African champions on Sunday night after edging Morocco\u2019s AS FAR in a thrilling and fiercely contested CAF Champions League final at a packed Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Brazilians secured a 2-1 aggregate victory after winning the first leg 1-0 in Pretoria two weeks earlier before battling to a 1-1 draw in the return leg in Morocco.<\/p>\n

Backed by a passionate crowd of nearly 70,000 home supporters, AS FAR started the match aggressively, launching relentless attacks from the opening whistle.<\/p>\n

However, Sundowns displayed remarkable composure and defensive discipline, with their backline and midfield effectively absorbing sustained pressure from the Moroccan side.<\/p>\n

The breakthrough eventually came for the hosts when Sundowns left-back Divine Lunga was adjudged to have fouled an AS FAR attacker while attempting to clear the ball inside the penalty area.<\/p>\n

Moroccan captain Mohamed Rabie Hrimat calmly converted the resulting penalty, sending the home crowd into celebration.<\/p>\n

AS FAR\u2019s advantage, however, was short-lived.<\/p>\n

Midfielder Teboho Mokoena produced a moment of brilliance minutes later, unleashing a thunderous first-time volley from outside the penalty box that flew past AS FAR goalkeeper Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti and silenced the vociferous home supporters.<\/p>\n

The spectacular strike proved decisive and underlined Sundowns\u2019 resilience on one of African football\u2019s biggest stages.<\/p>\n

Sundowns nearly extended their lead when striker Lebo Mothiba found the back of the net for what appeared to be a second goal, only for the effort to be ruled out for offside.<\/p>\n

As the match approached its conclusion, drama unfolded once again when AS FAR were awarded a second penalty after Sundowns captain and goalkeeper Ronwen Williams was penalised for a challenge inside the area.<\/p>\n

Williams, however, redeemed himself in spectacular fashion by producing a crucial save to deny the hosts and preserve Sundowns\u2019 aggregate advantage.<\/p>\n

The final whistle sparked jubilant celebrations among the South African side, who added another prestigious continental title to their growing legacy.<\/p>\n

Their triumph further cemented Mamelodi Sundowns\u2019 status as one of Africa\u2019s dominant football forces, following years of consistent success domestically and on the continental stage.<\/p>\n

The victory also highlighted the tactical discipline, squad depth and winning mentality that have made Sundowns one of the most formidable clubs in African football in recent years.<\/p>\n

– CAJ News<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

RABAT\u00a0\u2013 SOUTH African giants Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned African champions on Sunday night after edging Morocco\u2019s AS FAR in a thrilling and fiercely contested CAF Champions League final at a packed Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat. The Brazilians secured a 2-1 aggregate victory after winning the first leg 1-0 in Pretoria two weeks earlier […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2467,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[110,13],"tags":[516],"class_list":["post-2466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-football-sports","category-sports","tag-caf-club-champions-trophy"],"magazineBlocksPostFeaturedMedia":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1-150x150.jpg","medium":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1-300x214.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1.jpg","large":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1.jpg","2048x2048":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1.jpg","post-thumbnail":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1-300x300.jpg"},"magazineBlocksPostAuthor":{"name":"administrator","avatar":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3d5ebfe727f13fb325bd400aaaf5e789d3e2e20898883d9ae8e3d3d42d58cef?s=96&d=mm&r=g"},"magazineBlocksPostCommentsNumber":"0","magazineBlocksPostExcerpt":"RABAT\u00a0\u2013 SOUTH African giants Mamelodi Sundowns were crowned African champions on Sunday night after edging Morocco\u2019s AS FAR in a thrilling and fiercely contested CAF Champions League final at a packed Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat. The Brazilians secured a 2-1 aggregate victory after winning the first leg 1-0 in Pretoria two weeks earlier […]","magazineBlocksPostCategories":["Football","Sports"],"magazineBlocksPostViewCount":2,"magazineBlocksPostReadTime":2,"magazine_blocks_featured_image_url":{"full":["https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1.jpg",750,536,false],"medium":["https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1-300x214.jpg",300,214,true],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/CAF-Club-Champions-Trophy-1.1-150x150.jpg",150,150,true]},"magazine_blocks_author":{"display_name":"administrator","author_link":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/?author=2"},"magazine_blocks_comment":0,"magazine_blocks_author_image":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/a3d5ebfe727f13fb325bd400aaaf5e789d3e2e20898883d9ae8e3d3d42d58cef?s=96&d=mm&r=g","magazine_blocks_category":"Football<\/a> Sports<\/a>","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2466"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2468,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2466\/revisions\/2468"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2467"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2466"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2466"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/matabeletoday.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2466"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}