A shock ruling has overturned Senegal’s victory in January’s chaotic Africa Cup of Nations final, awarding the title to host nation Morocco instead.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) said its appeals board ruled that Senegal is “declared to have forfeited the final” after its players briefly walked off the pitch in protest to a penalty being awarded to Morocco in the final minutes of the match.
Senegal’s players later returned and the game restarted, but their eventual 1-0 win in extra time now becomes a 3-0 default win for Morocco.
Senegal has said it will appeal the decision, but did not indicate where. One option is the Court of Arbitration of Sport, an independent body based in Switzerland which settles sports-related disputes.
AFCON final descends into chaos
In the final, which took place on 18 January this year in Rabat, the Senegal players were led off the pitch by coach Pape Thiaw for around 15 minutes – while fans tried to storm the field – after Morocco was awarded a penalty in stoppage time which was set to decide the match.
The team returned to the field, seemingly at the urging of star forward Sanio Mané to complete the game.
After play resumed, Morocco and Real Madrid forward Brahim Diaz’s attempted slow chip shot penalty, also known as a “Panenka”, was saved by goalkeeper Édouard Mendy. The match then went to extra time, during which Senegal scored the only goal.
The atmosphere was already tense prior to Diaz’s penalty, as Senegal had a late goal disallowed when Abdoulaye Seck was adjudged to have committed a foul on Morocco defender Achraf Hakimi. TV replays, however, showed little contact between the two players.
At an initial disciplinary hearing, CAF imposed fines of more than $1 million (€870,000) in fines and bans for Senegal and Morocco players and officials but left the result untouched.
In enforcing Tuesday’s ruling, CAF cited article 82 of tournament regulations for AFCON to justify the verdict enforced on appeal.
It states that “if, for any reason whatsoever, a team withdraws from the competition or does not report for a match, or refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee, it shall be considered loser and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition.”
The appeal verdict seemed to override the referee’s authority making field-of-play decisions.
In reaction to the announcement, Senegalese defensive midfielder Pathé Ciss posted pictures of himself with the trophy while mocking the ruling in favour of Morocco.
Senegal defender Moussa Niakhaté on Instagram posted an image of himself holding the trophy with a message that said: “Come and get it! They’re crazy!”
In a similar post, left back El Hadj Malick Diouf added: “It’s not what I expected… this thing isn’t going anywhere.”
The verdict awards Morocco its first African title since 1976 and denied Senegal its second title, and second within three editions after also lifting the trophy in 2021.