AFCON Final Legal Battle: When Will CAS Decide If Morocco Or Senegal Are Crowned Champions?

Sport's top court is due on Thursday to hear Senegal's appeal against the ruling that stripped them of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title after January's chaotic final in Rabat.

Senegal thought they had lifted the trophy against hosts Morocco in January. But the Court of Arbitration for Sport, or Cas, will now consider whether Caf was right to overturn that outcome and give Morocco a 3-0 win instead.

A ruling won't come quickly. Cas has already said Thursday's hearing will not produce a same-day verdict, prolonging a dispute that has hovered over African football for almost nine months.

Final Chaos In Rabat

The final fell apart late.

Before 66,000 home fans packed into Rabat's Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Morocco were chasing a first Afcon crown since 1976 in an atmosphere that felt primed for a home triumph.

With the game still scoreless, Senegal believed Ismaila Sarr had scored the winner, only for referee Jean Jacques Ndala to have already blown for a Moroccan free-kick.

The biggest flashpoint arrived in the 98th minute. After a VAR review, Ndala pointed to the spot for Morocco, and tension spilled from the pitch to the touchline and stands.

Pape Thiaw then took some Senegal players and staff down the tunnel. Supporters clashed with security, and order briefly collapsed inside the stadium.

Play eventually restarted. In the 124th minute, Morocco passed up another major chance when Brahim Diaz chipped his "Panenka" penalty straight into Edouard Mendy's arms.

Senegal still had what looked like the decisive moment. Pape Gueye struck in extra time to seal a 1-0 win and what appeared to be Senegal's second Afcon title. Or so they thought.

Why Result Was Overturned

Morocco acted quickly.

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation filed a complaint with Caf, saying Senegal had broken tournament rules by leaving the field before the match had properly ended.

Article 82, in the "Withdrawals" section, states: "If, for any reason whatsoever, a team… leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee" they shall be "considered the loser and shall be eliminated from the current competition".

In March, Caf's appeals board backed Morocco. It decided Senegal had forfeited the final and awarded Morocco a 3-0 victory.

There is some precedent for Caf overturning results in Afcon and World Cup qualifying, but critics — including one former senior Caf official — said only the referee can abandon a match after a walk-off.

The FMRF said it wanted the regulations applied properly, while Senegal's federation, the FSF, called the decision "unfair, unprecedented and unacceptable" and appealed to Cas.

How Cas Will Decide

Cas is based in Lausanne.

Founded in 1984, the court was set up as an independent body to resolve sporting disputes as global sport became more commercial and more litigious.

For governing bodies that accept its authority, Cas is the final arbiter. Its rulings stand unless, in rare cases, Switzerland's highest court overturns them on narrow technical grounds.

More than 900 cases are filed there each year across more than 50 sports. They cover issues ranging from transfers and contracts to doping, corruption, TV rights and event organisation.

The Senegal appeal will be heard by three arbitrators chosen for their sports-law expertise. The panel is led by 76-year-old Frenchman Gerald Simon, founder of the Sports Law Laboratory at the University of Burgundy and a Cas member for 23 years.

The hearing will be private at the request of the parties, and Cas said in a statement that it "cannot state when a final decision will be rendered but it will not be on the day of the hearing".

So Thursday is only the start of deliberations. Cas's code says appeal verdicts should come within four months of a hearing, though the guidelines say panels should aim for less than three months.

A quicker answer is possible. In 2020, Manchester City appealed to Cas over Uefa's financial fair play ban, with the hearing held on 8 June and the ruling coming down on 13 July.

Wider Fallout

The decision could reverberate well beyond the case.

If Cas overturns Caf's ruling, it would deepen the damage to African football's governing body after criticism of the retrospective move to hand Morocco the title.

Caf president Patrice Motsepe said in March that Caf would "adhere to" and "respect" whatever Cas decides, so a Senegal win could force someone to tinker with the Afcon rulebook.

The case has already changed the laws of the game. In April, Ifab said: "The referee may sanction with a red card any player who leaves the field of play in protest at a referee's decision."

It also said: "This new rule will also apply to any team official who incites players to leave the field of play. A team that causes a match to be abandoned will, in principle, forfeit the match."

Thiaw has already been given his marching orders by Senegal, after the team's last-32 World Cup exit, while Walid Regragui — Morocco's coach in the final — was dismissed in March.

Both men would likely still see any success at Cas as a moral victory.

Whatever the outcome, ill feeling is likely to linger between the two federations.

FMRF senior officials were furious with Senegal's conduct, saying the images broadcast worldwide irreparably damaged the reputation of the first Afcon hosted by the kingdom since 1988 — a tournament into which a great deal of time and money had gone.

The FSF and the Senegalese government have meanwhile tapped into a broader view across the continent that Morocco has too much influence in African football.

Other incidents fed that anger too, including laser pens aimed into players' eyes and ball boys moving Mendy's towel, which eventually led to the extraordinary sight of reserve keeper Yehvann Diouf being tackled to the ground by three ball boys when he tried to intervene.

With next year's Afcon due in June and July, a high-profile rematch between Africa's best two sides is an appealing prospect.

But while this year's final has helped create a new rivalry for fans to enjoy, there is broad agreement that such contests should be settled on the pitch, not in a courtroom.