Futsal AFCON 2026 Awards: Youssef Jouad Named Best Player as Morocco Sweep Honours
Morocco’s golden fortnight in Rabat ended with the individual prizes to match the trophy. After lifting a record fourth continental crown on Wednesday night, the Atlas Lions swept three of the four official awards at the 2026 Futsal Africa Cup of Nations — with the one that got away going to the tournament’s most feared finisher.
The headline name is Youssef Jouad. The Moroccan international was named the tournament’s best player after a campaign that started with a hat-trick against Algeria in the 4-0 opening win and finished with a goal and the Man of the Match award in the 5-2 final win over Angola. When Angola briefly cancelled out Othmane El Idrissi’s opener in the final, it was Jouad who restored the lead a minute later — the goal that set the tone for the rout.
Bensalam the wall, Cambangula the sharpshooter
Behind that attack stood a wall. Goalkeeper Youssef Bensalam collected the Best Goalkeeper award after Morocco reached the final without conceding a single goal — Algeria, Zambia, Libya and Egypt were beaten by a combined 23-0. Only Angola managed to beat him, twice in the final, and it was never enough.
The remaining individual honour went to Angola. Joao Cambangula finished as the competition’s top scorer with eight goals, the standout a four-goal haul in Angola’s 6-0 group-stage rout of Tanzania — the goals that fired the Palancas Negras to a second straight final.
A tournament for the record books
Morocco also received the Fair Play award, capping a campaign of five wins from five, 28 goals scored and just two conceded. It is a record fourth AFCON crown for the Atlas Lions — 2016, 2020, 2024 and now 2026, three of them in a row — and on home soil at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Sports Hall, in front of CAF president Patrice Motsepe, they never looked like letting it slip.
For runners-up Angola, bronze medallists Egypt and history-making debutants Algeria, it was a tournament that raised the bar for African futsal. But the night, the trophies and the history all belonged to Morocco.
