The Senegalese Football Federation has officially filed an emergency appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, seeking to reclaim the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title.
The legal action follows a March 17 ruling by the Confederation of African Football Appeal Board, which stripped Senegal of its championship and awarded Morocco a 3-0 forfeit victory. CAF officials overturned the original 1-0 result from the January 18 final in Rabat, citing Senegal’s temporary walk-off during a stoppage-time penalty dispute as a breach of tournament regulations.
Senegal’s federation condemned the CAF Appeal Board’s intervention as an “unfair, unprecedented, and unacceptable decision.” The dispute centers on whether a post-match committee holds the jurisdiction to alter a match result that was completed on the pitch. Following the temporary protest in January, the on-field referee resumed and concluded the match, finalizing Senegal’s 1-0 win.
Former CAF Disciplinary Committee Chairman Raymond Hack has publicly questioned the legal basis of the reversal. While Hack previously criticized the initial January sanctions against Senegal coach Pape Thiaw, which included a $300,000 fine and a five-match ban, he stated the authority to declare a forfeit “falls solely within the authority of the referee on the field at the time of the incident, not post-match disciplinary committees.”
The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) has officially announced it will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the Confédération Africaine de Football (CAF) Appeal Board stripped Senegal of the 2025 AFCON title and awarded a 3-0 victory to Morocco. #YSports… pic.twitter.com/wXVUhm3Vl8
— YFM Takoradi (@Y979FM) March 18, 2026
The CAF ruling cited Articles 82 and 84 of the tournament framework to justify the forfeit. The CAS arbitration process will now determine if the post-match application of those articles supersedes the referee’s on-field match validation.