The 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final has been playing out for nearly nine months, and the moment that will decide it is now scheduled to arrive in a courtroom rather than on a pitch. On Thursday, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) will hear Senegal’s appeal against the decision to strip them of the title they believed they had won in January against the hosts in Rabat.
The final itself descended into chaos. In front of 66,000 home supporters inside Rabat’s Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Morocco were chasing a first continental crown since 1976, and the match was still goalless deep into stoppage time when Senegal thought Ismaila Sarr had scored a dramatic winner. The goal did not stand because referee Jean Jacques Ndala had already blown for a Moroccan free-kick. The controversy deepened in the 98th minute when, after a VAR review, Ndala awarded Morocco a penalty. Tempers boiled over on the touchline and in the stands, with Senegal coach Pape Thiaw leading some of his players and staff down the tunnel while supporters clashed with security as order briefly collapsed.
When play resumed, Morocco had the chance to end their 50-year wait in the 124th minute, but Real Madrid’s Brahim Diaz chipped his penalty “Panenka” style into the grateful arms of goalkeeper Edouard Mendy. Pape Gueye then struck in extra time to secure a 1-0 win for Senegal, who lifted the trophy for a second time, and Sadio Mane was named the tournament’s best player. Or so they thought.
The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FMRF) quickly lodged a complaint with the Confederation of African Football (Caf), arguing that Senegal had breached competition regulations. Article 82, contained within a chapter titled “Withdrawals”, states that if a team “for any reason whatsoever… 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 from the current competition”.
In March, a Caf appeals board agreed, ruling that Senegal had forfeited the match and awarding Morocco a 3-0 victory. While there is precedent for Caf overturning results during Afcon and World Cup qualifying, others, including one former senior Caf official, argued that only the referee has the authority to abandon a match if a walk-off occurs. The FMRF said it was seeking the proper application of tournament regulations, but Senegal’s federation (FSF) described the ruling as “unfair, unprecedented and unacceptable” and appealed to Cas.
Cas, founded in 1984 and based in the Swiss city of Lausanne, was set up as an independent legal body designed to settle disputes as global sport became more lucrative and, as a result, more litigious. For governing bodies that recognise its authority, the court is deemed the supreme arbiter, meaning its ruling is final unless, in rare cases, Switzerland’s highest court decides to set it aside on a limited number of technicalities. More than 900 cases are filed every year from over 50 different sports, covering issues including employment contracts and transfers, doping, corruption and television rights.
Senegal’s appeal will be heard by a panel of three arbitrators chosen by Cas for their expertise in sports law, led by 76-year-old Frenchman Gerald Simon, founder of the Sports Law Laboratory at the University of Burgundy and a Cas member for 23 years. If the panel fails to reach a consensus, its president will make the final decision.
The hearing, which will be held in private at the request of the parties involved, is expected to end on Thursday afternoon, but Cas has already warned that this is merely the starting point of the panel’s deliberation. In a statement, the court said it “cannot state when a final decision will be rendered but it will not be on the day of the hearing”. Its code states that appeal verdicts should be delivered a maximum of four months after a hearing, though guidelines also say panels should aim for less than three months. It can be quicker: in 2020, Manchester City’s appeal against Uefa’s ban from European club competitions was heard on 8 June and the verdict, in City’s favour, arrived on 13 July.
Even though Caf’s appeals board is independent, a reversal of its judgement would deliver another blow to the reputation of African football’s governing body, which has already been heavily criticised for the retrospective decision to hand Morocco the title. Caf president Patrice Motsepe said in March that they would “adhere to” and “respect” whatever Cas decides, so a ruling in Senegal’s favour could mean someone having to tinker with the Afcon rulebook.
The walk-off has also already brought about a change in football’s rules. “The referee may sanction with a red card any player who leaves the field of play in protest at a referee’s decision,” said Ifab, the game’s lawmaking body, in April. “This new rule will also apply to any team official who incites players to leave the field of play. A team that causes a match to be abandoned will, in principle, forfeit the match.”
Both men in the dugouts that night have since moved on. Thiaw lost his job after Senegal’s last-32 World Cup exit, while Walid Regragui, the man in the Moroccan dugout in January, was dismissed in March. Both will no doubt still view success with Cas as a moral victory.
Whatever the outcome, animosity is likely to linger between the two federations. The FMRF’s senior hierarchy were furious with Senegal’s behaviour, believing the pictures beamed around the world irrevocably tarnished the image of the first Afcon hosted by the kingdom since 1988, a tournament into which a huge amount of time and money had been invested. The FSF and the Senegalese government have meanwhile leaned into a feeling prevalent across the continent that Morocco holds too much influence within African football. Other incidents also irked them, such as laser pens being directed into players’ eyes and ball boys moving Mendy’s towel, which eventually led to the barely believable sight of reserve goalkeeper Yehvann Diouf being tackled to the ground by three ball boys when he tried to intervene.
With the next Afcon scheduled to take place in June and July next year, the prospect of a high-profile rematch between Africa’s best two teams is a tantalising thought. But while the chaos of this year’s final may have given birth to a new rivalry for fans to revel in, there is unanimous agreement that such encounters should be settled on the pitch and not in a courtroom.