The Confederation of African Football (CAF) have declared the Atlas Lions of Morocco as champions of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations following Morocco’s appeal to the football body on the application of articles 82 and 84.
Following a chaotic final on February 18 in Rabat that saw the Senegalese players leave the pitch after the referee Jean-Jacques Ndala disallowed what Senegal believed was a valid goal and a contentious penalty awarded to the host in the last minute of the tie, Senegal won in extra time to secure their second title.
However, the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF) appealed to CAF to apply Articles 82 and 84 of the regulations of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations following the outcome of the match.
Article 82 of CAF’s regulations states explicitly that if a team leaves the field before the regulatory end of a match without the referee’s authorisation, they are considered losers and permanently eliminated from the competition.
Consequently, the CAF appeal board after the application of the articles declared that Senegal forfeited the match with the result being awarded 3-0 in favour of Morocco.
This was contained in an official release on Tuesday night.
decided that in application of Article 84 of the Regulations of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the Senegal National Team is declared to have forfeited the Final Match of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2025 (“the Match”), with the result of the Match being recorded as 3–0 in favour of the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF).”
“The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) Appeal Board decided today that in application of Article 84 of the Regulations of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), the Senegal National Team is declared to have forfeited the Final Match of the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) Morocco 2025 (“the Match”), with the result of the Match being recorded as 3–0 in favour of the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF).”
The decision from CAF’s Appeal Board comes two months after Senegal won the trophy.
