Court of Arbitration for Sport considers three possible outcomes in Senegal-Morocco 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final dispute

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) will decide how the dispute between Senegal and Morocco over the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final should be resolved after Thursday’s hearing.

The date of the verdict has not been announced, but the Lausanne-based tribunal has three possible courses of action after being asked by the Senegalese Football Federation to challenge the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) decision.

It can uphold the ruling that changed the result of the final, restore the score recorded on the pitch or cancel the decision and send the case back to CAF for reconsideration.

The first option would be the most damaging for Senegal. If TAS confirms CAF’s decision, Morocco’s 3-0 victory by forfeit will remain in place and the North African side will officially retain the continental title.

CAF ruled that the Senegal players’ temporary departure from the pitch breached the regulations governing the tournament. Although the match resumed and Senegal went on to win 1-0 after extra time, the African football governing body subsequently changed the official outcome of the final.

A decision in favour of CAF would therefore confirm Morocco as the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations champions, despite Senegal having won the match on the field.

The second possibility is for the Lausanne tribunal to replace CAF’s ruling with its own decision and recognise the result recorded during the game. Senegal would then officially regain the 1-0 victory secured after extra time.

That outcome would mean the events during the final were not considered sufficient grounds to overturn the result. The match had restarted, reached its conclusion and its score had been accepted by the referee.

Senegal would consequently recover the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title, while Morocco would lose the benefit of the forfeit decision recorded in March.

TAS could also decline to decide the final’s outcome itself. In that case, it could annul the disputed ruling and refer the matter back to CAF for a fresh decision.

The case would not be settled by the Lausanne hearing under that scenario. CAF would have to examine the matter again and issue another ruling, taking into account the elements identified by TAS.

The final status of the match would consequently remain unresolved until the African governing body reached its new decision.

All three outcomes remain possible: TAS may confirm Morocco’s title awarded by forfeit, restore Senegal’s victory on the pitch or return the dispute to CAF. The timing of the verdict remains unknown.