Senegal Vs Morocco Final: CAS to hear appeal Thursday

Senegal’s appeal against the decision to award this year’s Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title to Morocco will be heard by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne on Thursday.

Senegal are challenging the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decision to declare Morocco champions, despite Senegal defeating the hosts 1-0 after extra time in January’s final in Rabat.

The controversy started late in the match when Senegal players left the pitch for about 14 minutes after Morocco were awarded a penalty. Several Senegal players went to the dressing room in protest before eventually returning to the field.

Morocco missed the penalty, and the match went into extra time. Senegal then scored the winning goal and appeared to have secured the AFCON title.

Two months later, however, CAF’s Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match because they left the pitch. The board overturned the result and awarded Morocco a 3-0 victory, making Morocco the champions.
Senegal appealed the decision to CAS on March 25. The hearing will involve representatives of Senegal, Morocco and CAF.

CAS said its panel would begin deliberations after hearing the arguments but warned that a final decision would not be announced on the day of the hearing.

Three-man panel to hear case
The three-man CAS panel will be led by French civil rights expert Gerald Simon. Italian international law professor Luigi Fumagalli and University of Zurich law professor Ulrich Haas will also hear the case.

Senegal are expected to argue that decisions made by the referee during a match are final and cannot be overturned later.

The case will also focus on CAF’s tournament regulations, which state that a team that refuses to play or leaves the field before the end of a match without the referee’s permission can be declared the loser and eliminated from the competition.

Senegal’s lawyers are expected to argue that the rule should not apply because the players only left the pitch temporarily and later returned to continue the match.

Morocco, however, are expected to argue that Senegal should be considered to have lost the match because they left the field without the referee’s permission, even though they later returned.
The hearing will be held behind closed doors.

Meanwhile, the 2027 AFCON qualifiers have already started. Senegal drew 1-1 with Mozambique in Patrick Vieira’s first match as coach on September 25 before beating Ethiopia 1-0 on September 29.
Morocco have won both of their opening qualifying matches, defeating Gabon and Lesotho.