There was something fitting about Denis Onyango’s second Caf Champions League title arriving in disorder.
A red card from the bench. Bottles flying from the stands. Tempers stretched thin by tension, noise and history.
Then, at the end of it all, another gold medal around the neck of a goalkeeper who has spent nearly two decades building one of the greatest African careers of his generation.
Football rarely offers symmetry. Yet Rabat somehow did.
Ten years after Onyango stood at the centre of Mamelodi Sundowns’ first continental coronation under Pitso Mosimane, he was there again on Sunday as the South African giants drew 1-1 with AS Far Rabat to seal a 2-1 aggregate victory and reclaim the biggest prize in African club football.
Change of roles
Only this time, the role had changed. Back in 2016, Onyango was the towering figure in goal, leader and heartbeat of a team discovering itself at the highest continental level.
In 2026, he arrived at the final as veteran custodian, elder statesman and increasingly part-time footballer.
The legs no longer carry the same authority. Time sees to that eventually. But influence does not always disappear with minutes played. Sometimes it deepens.
‘Waking up as an African champion again feels sweeter after a huge win like that last night,’ Onyango said afterwards.
Then came the line that revealed what it meant to him.. ‘After 10yrs, the Caf Champions League title returns home – back where it belongs.’ It was less boast than belonging.
Sundowns have spent the last decade trying to convince the continent that they are Africa’s modern standard bearers. Expensive, ambitious, relentless.
But for all their domestic dominance, the Champions League had become an uncomfortable reminder of unfinished business. Until Rabat.
Rollercoaster of emotions
The night itself was brutal. Hostile. Moroccan finals tend to breathe with fury and this one did not disappoint.
Far Rabat led through Mohamed Hrimat’s penalty after 40 minutes and the stadium briefly tilted towards belief.
But Sundowns replied almost immediately through Teboho Mokoena’s superb finish, a goal that quietened the noise and shifted the pressure back into Moroccan lungs.
During the celebrations, Onyango became part of the chaos.
Objects were allegedly thrown towards the Sundowns bench and the Ugandan goalkeeper reacted by hurling a water bottle back towards the stands. The referee spotted it. Red card. Dismissed without playing a minute.
‘The final is an emotional game,’ Onyango admitted later. ‘I shouldn’t have done that with the experience I have, but that is football.’ And perhaps that too explains him.
Now into his fourth decade on earth, Onyango still feels matches rather than merely observing them. There remains a competitive edge beneath the calm exterior, the same edge that carried him from SC Villa to Ethiopia, then South Africa, and ultimately into African football royalty.
Ronwen Williams would later save another Hrimat penalty to preserve Sundowns’ advantage, but by then the emotional tide had already turned.
When the final whistle came, Onyango became one of only two remaining members of the Sundowns side that conquered Africa in 2016, alongside Themba Zwane. A decade apart. Two stars above the badge.
And somewhere in between, a Ugandan goalkeeper quietly built a legacy no player from his country has ever matched.
Onyango’s major club and individual accolades
12x PSL Champion
2x Caf Champions League
1x African Football League
1x Caf Super Cup
3x Telkom Cups
2x Nedbank Cups
1x MTN 8 Cup
1x African-based Player of the Year