Who is the winner of the Africa Cup 2025/26? This case is now before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which issued an initial statement on Wednesday – and announced its intention to set up an arbitration tribunal.
Last Wednesday, the Senegalese Football Association announced its intention to take the case for the Africa Cup title to CAS. A week later, the Court of Arbitration for Sport has now confirmed the appeal against the ruling of the African Football Confederation (CAF).
A CAF appeals committee had awarded Morocco victory at the Africa Cup 2025/26 at the green table last week, although Senegal had won the final in Rabat in mid-January 1-0 after extra time. Because several Senegalese players had left the field in protest against two refereeing decisions in injury time of regular time, Morocco lodged a protest against the match classification – and after an initial defeat, were ultimately upheld by an appeals committee.
“The appeal lodged with CAS on March 25, 2026 aims to have the CAF’s decision overturned and Senegal declared the winner of the Africa Cup,” read the statement published on Wednesday afternoon. Senegal has also requested that the deadline for filing the notice of appeal be suspended until the full reasons for CAF’s decision are available. Normally, a plaintiff only has 20 days after filing the appeal to submit his legal arguments in a notice of appeal. So far, however, the CAF has only provided the judgment of the Appeals Commission.
For this reason too, the CAS writes that it is currently not possible to estimate how long the proceedings will take. “We are aware that the teams and fans want to know the final decision as soon as possible and we will ensure that the arbitration proceedings are conducted as swiftly as possible, while respecting the right of all parties to a fair trial,” CAS Director General Matthieu Reeb is quoted as saying.
In a first step, the Court now wants to appoint an arbitration tribunal to decide on the matter. A calendar of proceedings will then be drawn up. “Thanks to its specialized and independent arbitrators, the CAS is ideally equipped to resolve this type of dispute,” writes Reeb.