Rabat—The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has sanctioned Burkina Faso captain Bertrand Traoré for his public criticism of refereeing following the national team’s 1–0 loss to Algeria in the second round of AFCON 2025 Group B.
Burkina Faso’s football federation (FBF) confirmed the punishment on Facebook. They said Traoré had to go before a CAF disciplinary committee, where he apologized for his comments, which led to a $10,000 fine for “offensive remarks”.
“The captain of the Burkina Faso team presented his apologies and expressed regret before the committee. It was decided to sanction him with a fine of $10,000 for comments considered offensive during the post-match interview,” the FBF statement read.
FYI:
This is the action that 🇧🇫 Bertrand Traoré says should have got a penalty from ref Daniel Laryea. pic.twitter.com/TSybL7GTN6 https://t.co/71EPelJqCj
— Gary Al-Smith (@garyalsmith) December 28, 2025
Traoré had criticized the officiating following the defeat, saying:
“It’s unfortunate that we lost 1-0 because of a penalty. I believe there was a penalty in my favour in the first attack, but the referee did not use VAR.”
He added: “For Algeria’s penalty, the referee stayed on the field and confirmed the decision. This is unfortunate for African football and for the Africa Cup of Nations; the referees are ruining the match. In the end, the referee pushed me, and this is disappointing. The competition should not be spoiled in this way.”
The FBF stressed that the fine doesn’t reflect poorly on Traoré’s professionalism or his leadership within the squad.
“This incident in no way affects Bertrand Traoré’s engagement, professionalism, and determination to perform at his best on the field and to help his teammates achieve better results.”
Traoré is eligible to play in the upcoming AFCON knockout games since CAF didn’t hit him with a match ban, just the fine.
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