Senegal instruct lawyers, while CAF’s Motsepe defends Morocco’s AFCON award

The Senegalese Football Federation has instructed its lawyers to lodge an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) after the national team were stripped of its Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Tuesday reversed Senegal’s win, awarding the title to Morocco two months after the final . “Senegal will remain standing and will legitimately defend this victory on the field, which we acquired on the field with the talent of our players”, the federation’s president, Abdoulaye Fall, told a news conference.

“We have given our lawyers a mandate to pursue this procedure at the level of the Court of Arbitration for Sport”, he added. The continent’s showpiece football final, in Rabat on January 18, descended into chaos when several Senegalese players walked off the pitch in protest after the hosts were awarded a penalty late in second-half stoppage time. Senegal’s players were coaxed back onto the pitch by captain Sadio Mane, but Morocco missed the penalty.

Pape Gueye went on to score the goal in extra time that gave Senegal a 1-0 victory . CAF said that, having studied an appeal by Morocco, “the Senegal national team is declared to have forfeited the match” and the result was “officially recorded as 3-0” in favour of Morocco. Asked what would happen to the trophy in the meantime, Fall told reporters the team would “comply with the statutory and regulatory provisions of CAF”.

The revocation of the win elicited a strong response from fans in Senegal, where authorities called for an “independent international investigation” into corruption. In a resolution issued by the federation’s executive committee and read at the news conference, the federation said it would “use all possible legal, institutional and jurisdictional means to assert its rights and restore sporting fairness”. Senegalese President Bassirou Diomaye Faye appeared in his office in front of the Africa Cup of Nations trophy in a social media post on Wednesday, expressing his “outrage” at CAF’s decision.