Morocco won the 2025 AFCON title following a complaint to CAF regarding Senegal’s sending-off protest in the final.
Published March 18, 2026
Senegal condemned the decision to strip it of its African Cup of Nations (AFCON) title as “unfair, unprecedented and unacceptable” and said it casts a shadow on African football.
“The Senegalese Football Federation condemns this unfair, unprecedented and unacceptable decision that casts a shadow on African football,” it said in a statement on Wednesday.
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“In order to protect the rights and interests of Senegalese football, the federation will launch an appeal as soon as possible to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne,” the federation said.
Morocco were crowned African champions on Tuesday after the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) appeals committee upheld Morocco’s protest and found that Senegal’s walk-off protest in the January 18 final was the reason for their disqualification, with the match result declared 3-0 in favor of the hosts.
In the final in Rabat, Senegal won 1-0 with a goal in extra time, but a penalty was awarded in stoppage time after 90 minutes of regulation time, resulting in a 14-minute walk-off.
The protests were instigated by coach Papa Bouna Thiau and Senegalese veteran striker Sadio Mane has emerged as a hero for trying to get his teammates back on the field after a long suspension.
When Senegal returned to the pitch, the referee allowed Morocco to continue with their penalty canceled at the last minute, and the match went into extra time, with midfielder Pape Gueye scoring the winning goal in the 94th minute.
But the appeals committee said Senegal’s departure was a breach of competition rules and they forfeited the match.
The Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) was also forced to intervene in 2019 when Moroccan club Wydad Casablanca were sent off in the second leg of the African Champions League final after protesting against VAR.
In this case, they refused to continue playing and the referee declared the opponent Esperance the winner, but CAF’s executive committee surprisingly ordered a replay. Esperance took the matter to CAS and was declared champion, and CAF was shamefully reprimanded for trying to override the referee’s decision.
Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala’s decision to proceed with January’s AFCON final, rather than canceling it and declaring Morocco champions after Senegal’s sending off, is likely to feature heavily in the debate for Senegal’s return as champions.
The competition rules state that the referee’s decision is final.
“No one could have imagined that such a statement would be made two months after the final,” said veteran manager Claude Le Roy, who managed Senegal from 1988 to 1992.
“For many years, all decisions of referees have been ignored by CAF,” he told French television.
