CAS Set to Hear Senegal’s Appeal Over AFCON Title
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will on Thursday hear Senegal’s appeal against the decision to strip the country of the Africa Cup of Nations title and award it to Morocco.
Senegal are challenging the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decision despite beating hosts Morocco 1-0 after extra time in the January final in Rabat.
The dispute followed an incident late in regulation time when Senegal players left the pitch for about 14 minutes after a penalty was awarded against them.
Several players returned to the dressing room in protest before the team resumed play. Morocco failed to convert the penalty, and the match went into extra time, where Senegal scored the winning goal.
Two months later, CAF’s Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match by leaving the pitch, overturned the result and awarded Morocco a 3-0 victory.
Senegal lodged an appeal with CAS on 25 March, seeking to be reinstated as AFCON champions.
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A CAS panel will hear arguments from Senegal, Morocco and CAF during Thursday’s closed-door hearing.
“After the hearing, the panel will start its deliberations. At this stage, CAS cannot state when a final decision will be rendered but it will not be on the date of the hearing,” CAS said in a statement.
Three Member Panel
The panel will be presided over by French civil rights expert Professor Gerald Simon, with Italian international law professor Luigi Fumagalli and Hamburg-based attorney and University of Zurich Professor Ulrich Haas as members.
Senegal’s lawyers are expected to argue that the Laws of the Game make referees’ decisions on incidents during a match final and not subject to challenge after the game.
Another issue before the panel is the interpretation of tournament regulations relied upon by CAF’s Appeal Board in awarding the match to Morocco.
The regulations state that “if, for any reason whatsoever, a team refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee, it shall be considered the loser and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition”.
Senegal is expected to argue that the provision should be interpreted strictly and that the team’s temporary departure from the pitch did not amount to abandoning the match.
Morocco, meanwhile, is expected to argue that leaving the pitch without the referee’s authorisation makes a team the loser and results in its elimination, even if the departure was temporary.
CAS said the panel would deliberate after Thursday’s hearing but did not give a date for its final decision.
