The Confederation of African Football (CAF) has explained its decision to strip Senegal of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title, stating that the team forfeited the final after players walked off the pitch during a crucial moment of the match.
Following Morocco’s appeal, CAF determined that “the Senegal national team is declared to have forfeited the match” and that Morocco had won “officially recorded as 3-0.” Morocco is crowned champions and Senegal’s 1-0 extra-time victory in the January 18 final in Rabat is essentially overturned by the verdict.
According to CAF, articles 82 and 84 of the AFCON regulations served as the foundation for the judgement. According to these regulations, a team “shall be considered (loser) and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition if it refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee.” The offending team “will lose its match by 3-0,” according to the same clauses.
The controversy stems from chaotic scenes late in the final, when several Senegal players walked off the pitch in protest after a penalty was awarded to Morocco deep into stoppage time following a VAR review. The interruption lasted nearly 20 minutes before the players returned and the match resumed.
Morocco ultimately missed the penalty, and Senegal went on to score in extra time to secure what initially appeared to be a historic win. However, CAF ruled that the earlier walk-off constituted a breach of competition regulations significant enough to invalidate the result.
Morocco’s federation, meanwhile, defended its appeal, insisting it was not about disputing the match outcome on the pitch. In a statement, it said the appeal was never intended to contest the sporting performance of the teams participating in this competition, but solely to request the application of the competition regulations. It added that it remains committed to respecting the rules, to the clarity of the competitive framework, and to the stability of African competitions.
The final itself was marred by disorder beyond the walk-off, including an attempted pitch invasion by Senegal supporters and tensions surrounding the late penalty decision.
FIFA president Gianni Infantino, who attended the match, had earlier condemned the incident, saying, “It is unacceptable to leave the field of play in this manner, and equally, violence cannot be tolerated in our sport, it is simply not right.”
CAF had already imposed fines and disciplinary sanctions on both teams after the match for unsportsmanlike conduct. The latest ruling, however, represents a far more severe consequence, retroactively deciding the tournament winner based on regulatory violations rather than the final score on the field.
