Senegal will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport after being stripped of the Africa Cup of Nations title, with Morocco awarded the victory.
The Confederation of African Football announced the decision on Tuesday evening, officially crowning Morocco champions two months after the tournament’s controversial and acrimonious conclusion.
Therefore, Senegal have been stripped of their title for leaving the pitch, and it has been ruled that they forfeited the match.
Senegal triumphed 1-0 after extra-time, after controversially exiting the field in protest after hosts Morocco were awarded a contentious stoppage-time penalty, delaying the game for 17 minutes.
Brahim Diaz missed from the spot, his panenka comfortably saved, when play eventually resumed after Sadio Mane convinced his team-mates to return and Senegal won the final thanks to Pape Gueye’s goal in extra-time.
CAF says Senegal infringed on article 82 of AFCON’s regulations, which states if a team refuses to play or leaves the ground before the end of regulation time without the refereee’s authorisation, it will be considered the loser and eliminated from the competition.
Article 84 states any team that violates article 82 will be permanently eliminated and lose the match 3-0.
Senegal brand decision ‘unacceptable’
Senegal will now appeal to CAS, which typically takes about a year to reach a verdict.
Responding via a statement on X, the Senegal federation branded the decision “iniquitous, unprecedented and unacceptable”, saying it “threw discredit on African football”.
“For the defence of the rights and interests of Senegalese football, the federation will engage, with the shortest delay, an appeal procedure before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne,” the statement added.
The Senegalese football federation’s secretary general called the decision a “shame for Africa” in an interview with public broadcaster Radiodiffusion Télévision Sénégalaise.
The result is an outcome of an appeal made by Morocco’s football federation, which welcomed the verdict in an initial response.
Among the Senegal players to lose their champion status are former Liverpool striker Sadio Mane, Everton pair Idrissa Gueye and Iliman Ndiaye, Chelsea’s Mamadou Sarr and his on-loan team-mate Nicolas Jackson, West Ham’s El Hadji Malick Diouf and Crystal Palace’s Ismaila Sarr.
Manchester United’s Noussair Mazraoui, meanwhile, can savour a belated triumph alongside PSG’s Achraf Hakimi and Real Madrid’s Diaz.
Some of Senegal’s Premier League stars mocked the ruling on social media on Tuesday night.
West Ham’s Diouf, Crystal Palace’s Sarr and Sunderland’s Habib Diarra all posted laughing emojis on their Instagram stories, as well as pictures of them with the AFCON trophy and celebrations.
“Senegal are now preparing to go to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the highest court in sport in Switzerland. So for that, they have to get the appeal in, then you’d have to form a panel and assess what grounds they can appeal successfully on.
“As it stands now, Morocco lost the game 1-0 on the pitch, but the record books technically show they are 3-0 winners of that final, champions for the first time of Africa since the 70s.
“This is a tournament they were hosting, there was so much [build-up] on could they win it for the first time in about five decades. But how many will accept this?
“You’ve got Senegal still posting their celebrations. What will happen to the medals? Are they going to have to return the medals? Will they want to? What happens to the trophy?
“Think even beyond that. What if people had a bet on the game? I’ve been hearing from some of them. Well, if you had it in cash, it’d be hard for the bookies to take your cash back if you had it on Senegal.
“But if you had [a bet on] Morocco, you might want to get your winnings in now. So there are all sorts of ramifications for this widely.
“This is just completely extraordinary. You can’t really think of anything like it at this level. A continental final, the match finishing, sanctions being imposed already on it, the fines for so much that happened.
“But here we are, extraordinarily, 58 days later, forget that result we’re being told. Actually Morocco were the 3-0 winners over Senegal in the African Cup of Nations final.”
Source: Sky Sports
