Senegal Take AFCON Title Fight to CAS as October 8 Hearing Looms
Senegal’s battle over the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title is heading for its biggest legal test yet.
The Court of Arbitration for Sport has listed October 8, 2026 for the case brought by the Senegalese Football Federation against CAF and the Royal Moroccan Football Federation over the disputed AFCON final.
At stake is not simply a sanction.
It is the identity of the officially recognised African champion.
Senegal are asking CAS to overturn the CAF Appeal Board decision that declared them to have forfeited the final and recorded Morocco as 3-0 winners.
CAS confirmed when registering the case in March that the Senegalese federation wants the CAF decision set aside and Senegal declared AFCON winners.
Senegal won on the pitch — then lost the title in the appeal room
The final itself ended with Senegal celebrating.
Pape Gueye scored in extra time as Senegal defeated hosts Morocco 1-0 in Rabat on January 18, a result CAF initially reported as giving the Lions of Teranga their second continental title.
But the match had also produced one of the tournament’s defining controversies.
Late in regulation time, Morocco were awarded a penalty following VAR intervention. Senegal’s players left the pitch during the dispute before later returning.
Brahim Diaz failed to convert the penalty, and Gueye subsequently struck the extra-time winner.
CAF’s Disciplinary Board later imposed sanctions arising from incidents surrounding the final, including a five-match CAF suspension and a $100,000 fine for Senegal coach Pape Bouna Thiaw.
The title itself, however, remained with Senegal at that stage.
Then came the March ruling that changed everything.
CAF Appeal Board overturned the result
On March 17, the CAF Appeal Board upheld Morocco’s appeal.
Applying Articles 82 and 84 of the AFCON regulations, it ruled that Senegal’s conduct amounted to an infringement and declared the national team to have forfeited the final.
The match was consequently recorded as a 3-0 victory for Morocco.
That decision replaced Senegal’s 1-0 extra-time win as the operative CAF ruling and triggered the next stage of the dispute.
Eight days later, CAS confirmed that it had registered Senegal’s appeal.
Senegal want the title restored
Senegal’s requested remedy is unusually consequential.
CAS said the FSF is seeking to have the March CAF decision set aside and to be declared the winner of AFCON 2025.
That puts the October 8 hearing at the centre of a dispute carrying sporting, regulatory and historical consequences.
The issue before CAS is not whether Senegal physically won 1-0 on the night — that result is documented.
The issue is whether CAF’s later forfeiture ruling should stand.
October 8 becomes the next pressure point
CAS’s current hearing list places FSF v CAF & FRMF, case CAS 2026/A/12295, on October 8.
Until the tribunal issues its decision, the CAF Appeal Board ruling remains the critical governing decision in the dispute.
That means the case now sits in two sharply different realities.
Senegal won the final on the field.
CAF later awarded the match to Morocco by forfeiture.
CAS will now hear Senegal’s attempt to reverse that decision.
For African football, October 8 will not simply reopen an argument about a chaotic final.
It will move the fight over who owns the 2025 AFCON title into its highest independent sporting-appeal forum.