Senegal Releases Statement After CAF Stripped Teranga Lions of AFCON 2025 Title

• The Senegalese Football Federation has published a statement after CAF stripped the Teranga Lions of the AFCON 2025 title
• CAF announced the decision to strip Senegal of the title after Morocco appealed the earlier verdict passed
• Senegal has confirmed that it will take up the “unfair” decision by CAF to the Court of Arbitration for Sports

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The Senegalese Football Federation has issued a statement following the Confederation of African Football (CAF) stripping it of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title.

CAF sanctioned Senegal and Morocco with sporting and monetary punishment in the first judgment, but readjusted this after Morocco’s successful appeal.

CAF faulted Senegal and stripped it of the title by awarding Morocco a walkover 3-0 victory and declaring the Atlas Lions as AFCON 2025 winners.

Senegal releases statement after CAF's judgment

Senegal responded with a video jibe targeting CAF on social media and later published a full statement on the FSF website regarding the African football governing body’s latest ruling.

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“The Senegalese Football Federation denounces an unfair, unprecedented and unacceptable decision that discredits African football,” the statement shared on X reads.

“To defend its rights and the interests of Senegalese football, the Federation will initiate, as soon as possible, an appeal procedure before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne.

“The FSF reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the values of integrity and sporting justice, and will keep the public informed of the follow-up to this matter.”

International sports lawyer Israel Ajoje, speaking exclusively to Legit.ng confirmed that the Court of Arbitration for Sports based in Switzerland is Senegal’s only option after the ruling.

CAS has appellate jurisdictions that allow it to listen to appeal matters from lower courts, which members' associations and confederations fall into.

“If I was their lawyer, there would be some angles that I'd take the defence from, the first is contributory conduct - whatever action they took was a product of provocation, actions and inaction were born out of something and also proportionality which gives room for reasonableness based on mode of action,” he said.

“Secondly, Article 82 and 84 which Morocco based appeal on speaks about abandoning the match, Senegal though, abandoned the match, came back to complete, and should not be the same as someone who fully abandoned the match.”

He described the first two as “weak defences” and cited further rules which could give Senegal a strong case at CAS, which include an IFAB rule.

“Qui approbat non reprobat - A person cannot approbate and reprobate, they agreed to continue the match after Senegal came back, and thus shouldn't be allowed to reprobate,” he added.

“Morocco waived their right to forfeiture of the match by agreeing to continue, which is approbation, and now wanting it overturned is reprobation, which shouldn't be allowed.

“IFAB rules 5.1 5.2 states that a referee's decision in a match cannot be overturned, unless in some exceptions like fielding ineligible players and other instances that invalidate a match.

“Overturning the whole result is taking the power of referees and would set a bad precedent for football. Football rule writers did not oversee granting powers to regulatory bodies to overturn match results.”

Morocco reacts to CAF's ruling

Legit.ng previously reported that the Moroccan FA reacted to the latest CAF ruling, which awards the Atlas Lions the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title.

Morocco acknowledged the judgment, but refused to comment on the broader implications until it had sat with its governing body before announcing a decision.

Proofreading by Funmilayo Aremu, copy editor at Legit.ng.