World sport court sets date for Senegal's AFCON appeal hearing

The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Friday said has set 8 October as the date to hear Senegal's appeal of the decision to strip them of the Africa Cup of Nations title in favour of Morocco.

It said the hearing will be held behind closed doors at its headquarters in Lausanne in Switzerland, with no date set for a verdict.

Senegal won the tournament 1-0 in January during extra time, but were ruled to have forfeited the game by the appeal board of Africa’s football governing body.

The team’s players had left the pitch in Rabat for about 15 minutes in protest against a potentially decisive penalty kick awarded to hosts Morocco, which was eventually saved.

The Confederation of African Football’s decision in March saw Senegal’s win replaced with a 3-0 victory for Morocco.

That ruling seemed to ignore the laws of football which state the referee’s decision on the field of play is final.

The Senegalese government then called for an inquiry ‌into ⁠the removal of the title, while the country's soccer federation appealed to CAS.