CAS to Hear Senegal Appeal Over Morocco’s AFCON Title

The Court of Arbitration for Sport is set to hear Senegal’s appeal against the Confederation of African Football’s decision to award Morocco the Africa Cup of Nations title.

The hearing, scheduled for Thursday, will consider Senegal’s challenge to a CAF Appeal Board ruling that overturned the result of the final and recorded a 3-0 victory for Morocco.

Disputed final result

Senegal originally defeated hosts Morocco 1-0 after extra time in the AFCON final in Rabat in January. The match became contentious late in regulation time when Senegal players left the field for 14 minutes after a penalty was awarded against them.

Morocco did not convert the penalty, and Senegal later scored the winning goal in extra time.

CAF’s Appeal Board subsequently ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match by leaving the pitch. It overturned the result and awarded Morocco a 3-0 victory.

Senegal lodged its appeal with CAS on March 25 and is seeking reinstatement as the tournament winner.

Arguments before CAS

The CAS panel will hear submissions from Senegal, Morocco and CAF behind closed doors. Gerald Simon will preside over the three-member panel, assisted by Luigi Fumagalli and Ulrich Haas.

Senegal’s lawyers are expected to argue that decisions made by the referee on incidents during play are final under the Laws of the Game and cannot be challenged later. They are also expected to maintain that a temporary departure from the field should not be treated as abandoning the match.

Morocco is expected to take the opposing position. Its argument, as outlined ahead of the hearing, is that a team leaving the field without the referee’s authorisation must be considered the loser and eliminated from the competition, even if the departure is temporary.

The dispute centres in part on the tournament regulation stating that a team which refuses to play or leaves the field before the end of the match without the referee’s authorisation “shall be considered the loser and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition.”

Decision date remains unknown

CAS has said the panel will begin deliberations after the hearing. However, it has not provided a date for the final ruling and said the decision will not be issued on the day of the hearing.

The case comes as preparations for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualification campaign are already under way. Senegal drew with Mozambique on September 25 and won 1-0 in Ethiopia on September 29, while Morocco opened its campaign with victories over Gabon and Lesotho.