World’s top sporting tribunal confirms Senegal has lodged AFCON appeal

The world’s top sporting tribunal on Thursday confirmed that Senegal has lodged an appeal against the Confederation of African football’s decision to strip it of its 2025 AFCON title.

Senegal’s hoping the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will overturn CAF’s decision earlier this month to crown Morocco champions two months of the acrimonious final.

The controversial decision by CAF’s Appeal Board came after some players walked off the pitch during the January match in protest against a potentially decisive penalty awarded to Morocco.

They returned to the game about 15 minutes later and went on to score a goal in extra time to win the game 1-0.

The president of Senegal’s Football Association, Abdoulaye Fall, vowed on Thursday to mount a “crusade” against the decision to hand victory to the Atlas Lions.

He described it as a “grossly unfair administrative robbery" and said it would fight to defend the football team’s honour.

Lawyer Seydou Diagne said Senegal suffered a “betrayal” and has gathered international lawyers from Switzerland, Spain, France and Senegal to plead the case.

Under the laws of soccer, the referee’s decision on the field of play is final.

The CAF judges, however, cited a tournament rule that any team refusing to play or leaving the ground before the end of regular time will be considered the loser and eliminated from the competition.

Senegal's legal team said the country still considers itself the champion of Africa despite the CAF’s ruling.

It can typically take months to schedule a CAS appeal hearing and then many more weeks or months to announce a verdict.