Senegal and Morocco face TAS hearing over CAN 2025 final

The Senegal-Morocco dispute over the outcome of the CAN 2025 final reaches the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) on Thursday, with representatives of both countries and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) appearing before a panel in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Nine months after the final was played in Rabat, the Senegal national team and Morocco will present their cases in a hearing that could determine who officially holds the continental title. The CAF Appeal Commission removed the trophy from Senegal in March and awarded it to Morocco by a 3-0 administrative decision.

The dispute began during the closing stages of the final, when Morocco were awarded a penalty. Several Senegal players temporarily left the pitch in protest before returning to complete the match, following intervention from players including Sadio Mane.

Senegal went on to win 1-0 after extra time, with Pape Gueye scoring the decisive goal. However, the CAF Appeal Commission ruled that the players’ withdrawal breached Articles 82 and 84 of the CAN regulations and changed the result in Morocco’s favour.

The Senegalese Football Federation is challenging that ruling at the TAS. A central issue will be whether a sporting result can be overturned after a match has resumed and the referee has blown the final whistle, with the result recorded on the field.

Senegal will rely on those points in its case. Morocco, meanwhile, will argue that the regulations allow sanctions to be imposed when players leave the pitch without authorisation.

The representatives of the two sides will be heard from 09:30 in Lausanne, with CAF also present. The proceedings will take place behind closed doors before a three-arbitrator TAS panel.

The panel is chaired by Frenchman Gerald Simon, alongside Italian Luigi Fumagalli and German Ulrich Haas. All three are specialists in sports law.

No decision is expected immediately after the hearing. Once the parties have been heard, the three arbitrators will meet as many times as necessary to deliberate.

Many journalists are gathered outside the hearing, and the different parties may speak to the media once proceedings have concluded. However, the outcome of the case will not be announced in Lausanne on Thursday.

The hearing marks the latest stage in a regulatory dispute that has continued for months. Senegal and Morocco will each seek to persuade the TAS that their interpretation of the events in the CAN 2025 final is correct, with the competition’s outcome now being contested in the courts rather than on the pitch.