The scandal has gone around the world, the controversy continues to unleash passions. By dispossessing Senegal of its title of African champion to the benefit of Morocco, two months after the final, CAF raised a storm and plunged continental football into an unprecedented crisis. Faced with this “unfair, unprecedented and unacceptable” decision, the Senegalese Football Federation logically decided to bring the matter before the highest sporting court, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The question everyone is now asking is: when will we finally know the end of this story?
A verdict expected in several months
Although it is still too early to give a precise date, the usual CAS deadlines allow us to see things more clearly. The Senegalese appeal, which must be filed in the coming days, will first be examined urgently on the question of interim measures. Senegal has in fact requested the suspension of the Moroccan coronation pending the decision on the merits. A first response on this point could come in a few weeks, before summer.
But for the final verdict, the one which will decide the true champion of Africa 2025, we will have to be patient. For this type of disciplinary appeal procedure, the average delays are six to nine months. Legal experts are therefore counting on a decision in the fall of 2026, or even at the end of the year. A long time, which will leave room for all speculation and which will continue to fuel tensions between the two nations.
Senegal-Morocco: the timetable for the legal battle is becoming clearer
The hope of a decision “endorsed on the ground”
In the meantime, the reactions continue to pour in. Habib Beye, OM coach and former Senegalese international, described CAF’s decision as “inappropriate and incomprehensible”. “The title that Senegal gleaned, they gleaned it on the ground”, he recalled, hoping that the CAS will remain “on the decision ratified on the ground”. A position shared by an immense majority of observers, who believe that the primacy of sporting results must prevail.
Senegal, which relies on solid legal arguments such as the disproportion of the sanction and the fact that the referee had himself authorized the resumption of the match, has good reasons to hope. The CAS has often disavowed the CAF in the past for decisions deemed excessive. The series is therefore far from over. African football will have to live with this scar, whatever the outcome of the procedure.
