Court of Arbitration for Sport convenes to rule on 2025 AFCON champions
The Confederation of African Football (CAF), which organises the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), sanctioned Senegal's players for walking off the pitch in protest during January's final in Rabat at the Stade Prince Moulay Abdellah.
Senegal's actions were in protest at the referee's decision to award a stoppage-time penalty to Morocco, minutes after ruling out a goal for Senegal – and delayed the game by 16 minutes.
In virtually the last action of the game, Morocco's Brahim Diaz botched the spot kick that could have delivered the Cup of Nations trophy to his country for only the second time since the inception of the competition in 1957.
His shot into the centre of the goal failed to fool Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy, who caught it easily in the middle of his chest.
Redeemed by Diaz's gaffe, Senegal exploded into extra time, with Pape Gueye thrashing home the winner to give his team their second title in three tournaments.
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Morocco win on appeal
Following the game, the Moroccan football federation lodged an appeal with the CAF, which its appeal board upheld in March.
"It is declared that the Fédération Sénégalaise de Football, through the conduct of its team, infringed Article 82 of the Regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations," said a CAF statement.
"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."
Now, in the Swiss city of Lausanne, French civil rights expert Professor Gerald Simon will preside over the panel which will hear evidence from the Senegalese and Moroccan football federations, as well as the CAF.
Italian international law professor Luigi Fumagalli and Hamburg-based law professor Ulrich Haas will assist Simon during the hearing, which will be held behind closed doors.
“After the hearing, the panel will start its deliberations," the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) said in a statement. "At this stage, CAS cannot state when a final decision will be rendered but it will not be on the date of the hearing.”
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'An exceptional case'
Senegal's lawyers are expected to argue that under international football's Laws of the Game, the referee's decisions on incidents of play are final and cannot be challenged after the match.
Morocco's line is expected to rest on the interpretation of the tournament's rules which state that “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”.
Senegal is expected to counter that a temporary departure from the field cannot be equated with abandoning the match.
“This is an exceptional case,” Thibault Ulrich, a sports law researcher at the University of Lausanne, told French news agency AFP. "Never before has a national team seen a title won on the field and confirmed by the referee taken away."
After the AFCON, both teams went on to play at the 2026 World Cup in the United States, Mexico and Canada. Senegal lost to Belgium in the last 32, while Morocco went down to France in the last eight.