October 1: Senegal’s battle to regain the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title goes before the Court of Arbitration for Sport on October 8, when their appeal hearing against the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) will be heard at CAS headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland.
The hearing will be in person and will be held behind closed doors. Representatives of the Senegal FA (FSF) and the FRMF will be in Lausanne. CAF will be represented by its lawyers.
The CAS said no final decision will be made on the day of the hearing, so Senegal will have to wait to find out if the three-person panel – Professor Gérald Simon as president (France), Professor Luigi Fumagalli (Italy) and Professor Dr. Ulrich Haas (Germany) – agree with their claim that they have been unfairly stripped of their title in favor of hosts Morocco.
It is one of the strangest finals in the history of the tournament. On 18 January, with Senegal and Morocco tied 0–0 in stoppage time, Morocco were awarded a penalty after a VAR check.
Enraged, Senegal coach Pape Thiaw took his players off the pitch in protest at the penalty and the chaotic scenes in the stadium. The Senegal fans rioted, threw chairs and clashed with the stewards.
At 15 minutes the team was convinced to return to the pitch. Morocco’s Brahim Diaz missed his shot before Pape Gueye won the tournament for Senegal with a shot in the 94th minute. Senegal received the trophy.
In early February, CAF imposed sanctions totaling $715,000 in fines and handed down five match bans to coach Pape Thiaw and two players.
The Moroccan federation and national team player Ismael Saibari were fined $415,000, and Saibari and a teammate received a match ban. In the final, the ball kids tried to grab a towel from Senegal goalkeeper Édouard Mendy, an incident that alone earned the host nation a $200,000 fine.
But that wasn’t the end of the story. On 17 March, almost 60 days after the final, CAF’s appeals board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the final by leaving the field and awarded Morocco a 3–0 victory.
CAF stated that “if, for any reason, a team refuses to play or leaves the field before the regular end of the match without the referee’s permission, they will be considered losers and will be permanently eliminated from the ongoing competition”.
CAF said Senegal breached Article 82 of the Africa Cup of Nations regulation, which in turn triggered the application of Article 84. Article 82 specifies that any team that refuses to play or leaves the pitch before the end of regulation time without the referee’s permission will be deemed to have forfeited the match and will be ejected from the competition.
However, while most of Senegal’s players left the field and riots broke out in the stands, not all of Senegal’s players walked off and were brought back together by their teammates to complete the game until the final whistle.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino was present at the match and called Senegal’s behavior “unacceptable”. Moulay Rachid, brother of Morocco’s King Mohammed VI, refused to hand over the trophy to the Senegalese captain.
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