The Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed it has received an appeal from the Senegalese Football Federation challenging the decision by the Confederation of African Football to award the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title to Morocco.
In a statement, the Lausanne-based body said the FSF is seeking to annul CAF’s March 17 ruling, which declared Senegal to have forfeited the match (3–0) and crowned Morocco as African champions.
The controversy dates back to the final held in Rabat on January 18. The match between Morocco and Senegal was tied 0–0 near the end of regular time when Senegalese players walked off the pitch in protest against a penalty awarded to the host nation.
After several minutes—and largely due to the intervention of Sadio Mané—Senegal returned to the field. Brahim Díaz missed the penalty, and the game went into extra time, where Pape Gueye scored the only goal in the 94th minute, giving Senegal the win on the pitch.
Read more about this topic: CAF punishes Senegal with defeat and hands AFCON 2025 title to hosts Morocco (with video)
However, after initially confirming Senegal as champions, CAF reversed its decision on March 17, awarding a 3–0 forfeit victory to Morocco instead.
“The CAS is fully equipped to resolve this type of dispute with the help of specialized and independent arbitrators,” said Director-General Matthieu Reeb, adding that the case will be handled “as quickly as possible,” though no date has been set for a final hearing.
In addition to seeking annulment of the ruling, the Senegalese federation has requested a suspension of the deadline to submit detailed arguments, claiming CAF only notified them of the verdict without providing the full reasoning behind the decision.
An arbitral panel will now be appointed to examine the case, followed by procedural deadlines of 20 days for submissions and responses from the parties involved.
