The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced a significant development this Tuesday, confirming North African powerhouse Morocco as the ultimate victor of the CAN 2025 tournament following controversial incidents during the final match. Consequently, West African nation Senegal, despite their on-field performance, has been declared to have forfeited, resulting in a 3-0 loss.
In a truly astonishing turn of events, despite West African nation Senegal’s initial triumph in the Africa Cup of Nations (CAN) final held in Rabat on January 18th – a match marked by high drama and a controversial walk-off by the Senegalese squad in protest – the CAF has now ruled in favor of Morocco’s appeal. This Tuesday, the Confederation of African Football’s Appeal Jury declared the Moroccan reserve to be valid. Citing Article 84 of the Cup of Nations Regulations, the CAF officially announced that “the national team of Senegal is declared to have forfeited the final of the Africa Cup of Nations 2025, with the result being ratified as 3-0 in favor of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation.”
The CAF Appeal Jury determined that the actions of the Senegalese team fell under the purview of Articles 82 and 84 of the Africa Cup of Nations regulations. Specifically, Article 82 outlines that “if, for any reason, a team leaves the field before the regular end of the match without the referee’s authorization, it shall be considered as having lost and will be definitively eliminated from the ongoing competition.”
Furthermore, the jury also applied Article 84, which clarifies that “any team violating the provisions of Articles 82 and 83 shall be permanently excluded from the competition” and will consequently “lose the match 3-0.”
Responding to this development, the Moroccan Federation issued a concise statement. They affirmed that their action was never intended to challenge the sporting prowess of the teams participating in the competition, but rather to solely request the enforcement of the tournament’s established regulations.