The Court of Arbitration for Sport has set October 8, 2026, for the AFCON hearing of Senegal's appeal against the ruling that took the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title from the Lions of Teranga and gave it to Morocco. The session will open at 9:30 in the morning at the tribunal's headquarters in Lausanne, Switzerland, according to an operational note published by the court. The case pits the Senegalese Football Federation against CAF and the Royal Moroccan Football Federation.

The Senegalese Football Federation registered the appeal on March 25, 2026. It asks the arbitrators to annul the CAF Appeals Board ruling that declared Senegal had forfeited the final and recorded Morocco as the winners by 3-0. The federation wants the court to name Senegal as the winners of AFCON 2025, the CAS statement said.

Two representatives each from the Senegalese and Royal Moroccan federations will appear in person; CAF will be represented by its legal team. The parties agreed that the proceedings will be conducted in French. CAS said the hearing date was fixed after consultation with the parties.

There will be no public gallery. None of the parties asked for a public hearing, so the session will be held behind closed doors and no media will be admitted, CAS said. The tribunal also cautioned against misinformation about the case circulating online, saying the only reliable details are the ones it publishes through its own channels.

The night the final fell apart

The appeal traces back to January 18, 2026, when Senegal met hosts Morocco in the final at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat. Senegal won 1-0 after extra time, with Pape Gueye scoring the winner in the 94th minute. It would have been Senegal's second continental title; the first came at the 2021 edition in Cameroon.

The goal was overshadowed by events late in normal time. Referee Jean-Jacques Ndala awarded Morocco a penalty following a VAR review. Several Senegal players walked off the pitch in protest, stopping play for nearly 20 minutes before captain Sadio Mané persuaded them to return, according to reporting by SuperSport. Morocco's Brahim Díaz attempted a Panenka from the spot and missed, sending the game to extra time.

After the tournament, CAF's disciplinary process concluded that the walk-off counted as a forfeit. The confederation's Appeals Board handed the match to Morocco, and the title with it, giving the championship to the host nation. The Senegalese federation rejected the decision and filed its case in Lausanne, where it has been on the docket for the past six months.

What the panel will decide

The case is listed at CAS as TAS 2026/A/12295. The three-person panel will be chaired by Professor Gérald Simon of France, with Professor Luigi Fumagalli of Italy and Professor Dr. Ulrich Haas of Germany as the other two arbitrators. The three-person panel at the AFCON hearing must decide whether CAF was entitled to convert a protest walk-off into a forfeited final and reassign a continental championship months after the final whistle. The parties did not agree to fast-track the case, so it followed the ordinary timeline under the tribunal's rules, the statement said.

No verdict will come on the day. "After the hearing, the Panel will start its deliberations," the operational note said. "At this stage, CAS cannot state when a final decision will be rendered but it will not be on the day of the hearing."

Senegal's case is that the players earned the trophy on the pitch and that a disciplinary process should not erase that result. Morocco will argue that the title stands as awarded through CAF's official process. The ruling will decide which federation is officially recorded as the 2025 champions and which record books carry the title. Beyond the two federations, the outcome will show how far a confederation can go when a team leaves the field in protest, a question that touches every competition CAF runs.

Both federations will present their arguments in person when the AFCON hearing opens. Until the panel rules, the question of who won the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations remains open, and the answer will come from Lausanne rather than the scoreboard.

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Sources: SuperSport, Complete Sports

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