IT will probably take up to six months, but Senegal and most neutrals with knowledge about the situation are confident that the Teranga Lions will regain their Africa Cup of Nations title.
Understandably, Senegal believe that they have been unfairly treated by the Confederation of African Football (CAF), who stripped them of their AFCON title and gave it to Morocco.
Senegal had won the controversial final on the pitch, beating the hosts 1-0 in Rabat in January to lift their second continental title.
That final was probably the most chaotic in AFCON history, with Senegal temporarily walking off after what they believed was unfair officiating in favour of the hosts.
The referee, Jean-Jacques Ndala from DR Congo, had awarded Morocco a contentious penalty in the dying minutes of the clash with scores at 0-0, moments after he ruled out what many felt was a good Senegal goal.
Protesting the perceived injustice (Nigeria’s Super Eagles had also felt the officiating in their semi-final defeat to Morocco favoured the hosts, while other opponents also complained earlier) Senegal walked off, with only Sadio Mane remaining on the pitch.
About 15 minutes later, the Senegal players returned to the field and accepted their fate, expecting to concede with no time to find an equaliser.
However, the football gods had more drama in store, as Brahim Diaz chose to go the cheeky route with a ‘Panenka’ attempt that went horribly wrong.
With the missed penalty, the final went into extra-time, and Pape Gueye scored a stunning goal to earn Senegal the trophy over the desperate hosts.
The walkout by Senegal was not the only disgraceful act of the rowdy final, with Teranga Lions fans clashing with the Moroccan police, and Morocco’s players and ball boys repeatedly attempting to steal Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy’s towels, which he was using to keep his gloves dry in the wet conditions.
Taking all the chaos into consideration, CAF’s disciplinary board sanctioned both teams few days after the final, handing out bans and fines to coaches and players.
Most neutrals felt that CAF had taken appropriate action by fining and banning players and officials from both sides and sanctioning their football federations.
Morocco, though, were not satisfied with the disciplinary action of the CAF board; the FA appealed, demanding that the Atlas Lions be declared champions.
Then in a ruling that stunned the whole football world, CAF’s appeal board, led by Nigeria’s Justice Roli Daibo Harriman, declared that Senegal forfeited the final by initially walking, therefore elevating Morocco from runners-up to champions.
This verdict came two months after Senegal had been presented with the trophy and the squad honoured and rewarded back home in Dakar.
Apart from Morocco, CAF’s hierarchy led by Patrice Motsepe and FIFA president Gianni Infantino, the majority of the football world condemned the unprecedented ruling that switched champions two months after a major tournament.
As expected, the Senegal federation has taken the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, the supreme dispute resolution body in global sports.
Many, including legal experts, believe Senegal have a strong case and CAS will likely overturn the controversial ruling, which would be an embarrassing blow to CAF’s integrity.
CAF’s ruling is premised on the fact that Senegal flouted the laws of the game by staging a walkout.
According to the continental governing body, Senegal forfeited the match by leaving the pitch while it was going on, and therefore the result was null and void.
Senegal are understandably aggrieved and will do everything legally to retain the result achieved on the field of play.
In delivering the judgement, CAF cited two key articles (82 and 84) of its statutes that it claimed Senegal violated, but the West Africans and those backing them are confident everything else is irrelevant because the final eventually reached its conclusion.
The CAF statement says in part: “The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) Appeal Board decided today that in application of Article 84 of the Regulations of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the Senegal National Team is declared to have forfeited the Final Match of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2025 (“the Match”), with the result of the Match being recorded as 3–0 in favour of the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF).
“On the appeal by the FRMF regarding the application of Articles 82 and 84 of the Regulations of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the CAF Appeal Board made the following rulings:
“The appeal lodged by the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF) is declared admissible in form and the appeal is upheld.
“The CAF Disciplinary Board decision is set aside.
“The CAF Appeal Board further finds that the conduct of the Senegal team falls within the scope of Articles 82 and 84 of the Regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations.
“The protest lodged by the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF) is upheld.
“It is declared that the Fédération Sénégalaise de Football (FSF), through the conduct of its team, infringed Article 82 of the Regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations.
“In application of Article 84 of the Regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Senegal team is declared to have forfeited the match, with the result recorded as 3–0 in favour of the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF).
“All other motions or prayers for relief are dismissed.”
According to sports law experts, the fact that the referee allowed Senegal back to the pitch to conclude the regulation time and extra-time nullifies the walkout.
Article 82 addresses situations that include withdrawing from a CAF competition, failing to show up for a match, refusing to play, or leaving the ground before the end of the game without the referee’s permission.
Article 84 recommends that any team found in violation of Articles 82 or 83 is considered to have lost the game by forfeit.
The rule also allows the team to be excluded from the competition and leaves room for additional sanctions if the organising body deems such actions necessary.
The standard forfeit score is 3-0. But if the opposing team had already been leading by more than 3-0 before the match was stopped, that bigger score would remain.
In this case, CAF applied the standard forfeit score.
However, the major point in favour of Senegal is that they did not ‘abandon’ the match since one of their players (Sadio Mane) was on the throughout, and they did indeed return to finish the match, with the referee in charge.
Also, while Senegal did hold up the match for about 15 minutes, they did not leave the GROUND (which could be interpreted as the stadium).
Senegal could also cite Law 5 of FIFA’s Laws of the Game in their defence.
The law states that decisions of the referee regarding facts connected with play, including whether or not a goal is scored and the result of the match, are final.
It adds that the decisions of the referee, and all other match officials, must always be respected.
“The referee may not change a restart decision on realising that it is incorrect or on the advice of another match official if play has restarted or if the referee has signalled the end of the first or second half (including extra time) and left the field of play or abandoned the match.”
The major crux of Senegal’s appeal is that referee Ndola did not call off the match and instead completed the regulation time and extra-time before blowing his final whistle.
If the referee confirms to CAS what the whole world watched on March 18 that the match was indeed not abandoned, Senegal’s chances of winning the case are very bright.
The match, supervised by the referee, reached its logical conclusion despite the condemnable conduct of Senegal’s (and Morocco’s) players and coaches, therefore it was not abandoned.
Overwhelming evidence shows that Senegal won on the pitch and were declared champions, and should remain so.
CAF’s appeal board is an independent organ, but the continental body has been accused of buckling under pressure from Morocco.
The North Africans have leverage on CAF because they have bailed out the body several times by offering to host tournaments other countries have been unwilling to, as well as World Cup qualifying games involving countries that do not have standard facilities.
Indeed, there were reports that Morocco threatened to withdraw from hosting a third consecutive Women’s Africa Cup of Nations if CAF did not review its initial decisions on the AFCON final.
Those reports might have been exaggerated, but CAF fanned the flames of complicity by reducing or dismissing almost all the sanctions imposed on Morocco’s federation, players, officials and ball boys for their shameful conduct during the final.
Senegal would hope they can count of the impartiality of CAS though, with the body’s VAR believed to be impeccably non-biased.
