CAS to Hear Senegal Appeal Over AFCON Title Awarded to Morocco

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

The hearing will take place behind closed doors on Thursday in Lausanne, with arguments expected from Senegal, Morocco and CAF. Senegal is seeking to have its status as champion restored after CAF’s Appeal Board overturned the result of the final and recorded a 3-0 victory for Morocco.

Disputed final in Rabat

Senegal defeated hosts Morocco 1-0 after extra time in the final in Rabat in January. The match was interrupted late in regulation time after a penalty was awarded against Senegal.

Several Senegal players went to the dressing room in protest, and the team remained off the pitch for 14 minutes before play resumed. Morocco did not score from the penalty, and the match proceeded to extra time, where Senegal scored the winning goal.

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

Senegal lodged its appeal with CAS on March 25.

Arguments expected before CAS

Senegal’s lawyers are expected to argue that decisions made by the referee during incidents of 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 is expected to rely on tournament regulations stating that a team which refuses to play or leaves the field without the referee’s authorisation before the scheduled end of a match must be considered the loser and permanently eliminated from the competition.

The regulation cited in the dispute says: “if, for any reason whatsoever, a team refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee, it shall be considered the loser and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition.”

Decision will come later

The CAS panel will be presided over by Gerald Simon, a French civil rights expert, and will include Luigi Fumagalli, an Italian international law professor, and Ulrich Haas, a Hamburg-based lawyer and professor of law at the University of Zurich.

CAS said the panel will begin deliberations after the hearing. It also said the timing of the final ruling could not yet be specified and that the decision would not be issued on the day of the hearing.

The dispute comes as qualification for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations is already under way. Senegal drew with Mozambique on September 25 before beating Ethiopia 1-0 on September 29. Morocco won its opening two qualifying matches against Gabon and Lesotho.