CAS sets October 8 hearing date for Senegal’s appeal against AFCON title strip
Sadio Mane lifts the AFCON trophy aloft after Senegal beat Morocco
The Court of Arbitration for Sport will convene in Lausanne to rule on whether Senegal or Morocco are the rightful holders of the Africa Cup of Nations 2025 title, in one of African football’s most explosive disputes in recent memory.
By Martin Weche
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has scheduled an October 8 hearing for Senegal’s appeal against the Confederation of African Football’s decision to strip the Lions of Teranga of the Africa Cup of Nations 2025 title and award it to Morocco.
The announcement, made by CAS on Friday, confirmed that the hearing will take place behind closed doors at the court’s headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, with no immediate ruling expected on the day itself. “CAS cannot state when a final decision will be rendered but it will not be on the day of the hearing,” the court said in a formal statement.
The dispute has its roots in one of the most turbulent finals in the tournament’s history. On January 18, at the Stade de Marrakech in Rabat, Senegal appeared to have won the AFCON 2025 title when midfielder Pape Gueye scored in extra time to give his side a 1–0 victory over the host nation. The goal, and the scenes that followed, should have been the story. Instead, the final descended into chaos.
With the match still goalless in normal time, referee Maguette Ndiaye awarded Morocco a penalty — a decision that triggered an extraordinary response from the Senegalese camp. Several players walked off the pitch in protest, refusing to continue. Senegalese supporters attempted a pitch invasion. Play was suspended for nearly 20 minutes before Senegal’s players eventually returned, and the match concluded with Gueye’s decisive strike in extra time.
The chaos did not end at the final whistle. In March, CAF overturned the result entirely, awarding Morocco a 3–0 victory by forfeit and handing the Atlas Lions the title on the basis of Senegal’s conduct during the match. The Senegalese Football Federation, the FSF, immediately appealed to CAS, filing its case on March 25.
In its statement, CAS confirmed the scope of the appeal: “The FSF appeal seeks to set aside a CAF decision declaring that the Senegal national team forfeited the AFCON 2025 final and recording the Moroccan national team as the winners of the match by 3–0. The appeal requests that CAS declare the FSF winners of AFCON 2025.”
The case has divided opinion sharply across African football. Those sympathetic to Senegal argue that the penalty decision was deeply contentious and that the players’ reaction, however ill-judged, was a spontaneous response to what they perceived as a grave injustice on the biggest stage. Others contend that no grievance, however legitimate, can justify abandoning the field of play in the final of a continental championship, and that CAF had little choice but to act decisively.
Morocco, for their part, have accepted the title awarded to them by CAF and will argue through the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, the FRMF — listed as a respondent in the CAS proceedings alongside CAF — that the governing body’s ruling was lawful and should stand.
The stakes could scarcely be higher. An AFCON title is the pinnacle of African international football, and the legitimacy of the 2025 edition remains in genuine dispute until CAS delivers its verdict. For Senegal, whose players celebrated on the pitch in Rabat believing they had won, the hearing represents the last realistic avenue to reclaiming what they insist is rightfully theirs. For Morocco, it is an opportunity to have their title confirmed by sport’s highest court of appeal.
October 8 now looms large on the African football calendar. Whatever CAS ultimately decides — and the timeline for a final ruling remains open — the judgment will carry consequences that extend well beyond a trophy. It will shape how CAF’s disciplinary authority is understood, how match officials are protected and, perhaps most importantly, how players are expected to conduct themselves when they believe the game has wronged them.
In football, as in law, how you lose matters almost as much as whether you win.
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