{"id":114226,"date":"2026-03-17T23:47:51","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:47:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/sin-categoria\/morocco-champion-of-the-african-cup-after-controversial-decision-against-senegal\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T23:47:51","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T03:47:51","slug":"morocco-champion-of-the-african-cup-after-controversial-decision-against-senegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/soccer\/morocco-champion-of-the-african-cup-after-controversial-decision-against-senegal\/","title":{"rendered":"Morocco, champion of the African Cup after controversial decision against Senegal"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morocco Crowned Champion of the African Cup of Nations in a Controversial Decision<\/h2>\n\nIn a surprising decision, Morocco was declared the winner of the African Cup of Nations by an appeals panel. This decision overturned Senegal’s victory in the chaotic final in January.\n\nThe Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that its appeals board determined that Senegal had “lost the Final”, awarding Morocco a 3-0 default victory.\n\nThe final, played on January 18 in Rabat, was marked by controversy. The Senegalese players, led by their coach Pape Thiaw, left the field for 15 minutes in stoppage time, protesting a penalty awarded to Morocco.\n\nThe penalty, taken by Brahim D\u00edaz, was stopped by goalkeeper \u00c9douard Mendy. Senegal scored the only goal of the match in extra time. The tension in the stadium had increased due to the cancellation of a Senegal goal minutes before the penalty.\n\nIn the second minute of added time, Senegal’s goal was disallowed due to a foul by Abdoulaye Seck. Television replays suggested minimal contact on Moroccan defender Achraf Hakimi.\n\nIn an initial disciplinary hearing, CAF imposed fines and sanctions on players and officials from Senegal and Morocco, but maintained the original result.\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\nSenegal players react to the penalty awarded to Morocco in the African Cup of Nations final on January 18.<\/em>\n\n\n

Moussa Niakhat\u00e9 posted an image on his private Instagram account holding the trophy with a message in French that said: “Come and get it! They’re crazy!”<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

El Hadji Malick Diouf added in an Instagram story: “It’s not what I expected… this is not going anywhere.”<\/a><\/p>\n\nThe Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) stated that its goal was to request the application of competition regulations, reaffirming its commitment to respecting the rules and stability in African competitions.\n\nCAF justified its decision in article 82 of the tournament regulations, which states that a team that withdraws or refuses to play a match will be considered a loser and eliminated from the competition.\n\nThis victory gives Morocco its first African title since 1976 and denies Senegal its second title in three editions.\n\nAny appeal by Senegal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) could take a year to resolve, which could extend beyond the 2026 World Cup, which will be co-hosted by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.\n\nSenegal will face France, Norway, and a qualifier winner, which could be Iraq. The matches against France and Norway will be played at MetLife Stadium, near New York.\n\nMorocco will play against Brazil, Scotland, and Haiti, with an opening match also at MetLife against Brazil.\n\nUnder the direction of Walid Regragui at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Morocco became the first African team to reach the semi-finals.\n\nRegragui left the position two weeks ago after criticism for not winning the African Cup of Nations, stating that “the team needs a new opportunity before the World Cup”.\n\nMorocco will now head to the United States as African champion.","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Morocco Crowned Champion of the African Cup of Nations in a Controversial Decision In a surprising decision, Morocco was declared the winner of the African Cup of Nations by an appeals panel. This decision overturned Senegal’s victory in the chaotic final in January. The Confederation of African Football (CAF) announced that its appeals board determined […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":114227,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[41],"tags":[10524,175,8378,3850],"class_list":{"0":"post-114226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer","8":"tag-afcon","9":"tag-final","10":"tag-morocco","11":"tag-senegal"},"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/114227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alofokedeportes.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}