The Confederation of African Football (CAF) Appeal Board has officially ruled that the Senegal national football team forfeited the final of the Africa Cup of Nations 2025, thus crowning Morocco as the AFCON champions.
CAF awarded a 3–0 victory to the Moroccan Football Federation, which is the shoreline attributed to the winning side when the opposing team forfeits the match.
The decision comes following an appeal by Morocco’s Football Federation.
The CAF announcement itself arrives weeks after an earlier CAF decision opted for light sanctions on Senegal. This had prompted controversy and ridicule, with many expecting the Senegalese team to be severely sanctioned for walking off the picth and disrupting the AFCON final on January 18.
Almost a month later, the board has now determined that Senegal’s conduct breached tournament regulations.
According to the new ruling, Senegal’s conduct led to the match being officially recorded as a forfeit under Article 84 of CAF regulations.
The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) has pushed back against a ruling from CAF.
In a statement released Tuesday, the Senegalese body confirmed it had reviewed the decision issued by CAF’s appeal jury in case DC23316.
Dakar rejects the decision in firm terms. The FSF described the ruling as unjust and without precedent, and confirmed it will take the case to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
