BREAKING: Senegal Stripped of AFCON Title
Senegal were declared as AFCON Champions but the result was overturned to make Morocco the Champions.
AFCON Cup Final: Senegal VS Morocco
The AFCON Cup Final was held between Senegal and Morocco on 19th January, 2026. The match went on to be extended to extra time after neither of the teams scored goals in the first and second half. Morocco received a penalty goal at the extra time of the second half. Senegal felt that the penalty was unjust and protested by leaving the pitch and questioning the VAR decision. At the time, the referee declared a foul and a penalty to Morocco after the VAR decision. Morocco took the penalty at 110' but unfortunately for them, they did not score from that penalty. The match was left as 0-0 and so extended to extra time. Just at the start of the first half of the extra time, Gueye scored a goal for Senegal at 93' and it was a clear goal, no foul, no offside chances, just a simple, clear and good goal. The stadium was filled with a thrilling atmosphere for the Senegal fans who were closer to victory than Morocco. It was a moment of relief for the Senegal fans and also a moment of tension and uncertainty for the Morocco fans. As the match came to the end, everyone was holding their breath for the blow of the final whistle and as soon as that moment came, the stadium filled with an electric atmosphere, with cheers, loudness, jumping fans and an adrenaline rush but also with a stunned silence from Morocco fans. At the time, Senegal was declared AFCON Champions of 2025/26 by winning the match against Morocco with a 1-0 victory.
History had written their names as the champions but little did they know, history had planned something else.
On 19th March, 2026, the CAF released an official statement on their website stating,
"The CAF Appeal Board decided that in the 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)."
As mentioned, during the match, Senegal left the pitch for approximately 15 minutes while the foul that happened during extra time of the second half was decided to be a penalty or not. After some time, it was declared as a penalty although some players were still off the pitch. This was looked into after the game, but as per Article 84 of the CAF Regulations, if any player or team withdraws, refuses to play, or leaves the pitch before the match without the referee's authorization is considered as not eligible to play and is eliminated from the competition. And due to the fact that the Senegal players triggered this article's implementation, they were eliminated, and therefore, they lost their title to Morocco.
Senegal were stripped of their title after 2 months of winning it. Technically, the result is still not settled as Senegal might approach the governing body and raise an appeal. Some people are calling it a "disgrace", "terrible look", "Joke of the century" and most obviously, "SHOCKING".
The news not only shocked Senegal and Morocco fans but almost every football fan in the world. This match will now be written in the history books as maybe a "total disaster", "controversial" or "messy".
Why is this so important in the football world, you might ask? Well, it showed that a game's result that is left after full time or a penalty shootout is not the final result and can be changed anytime, even after 2 months, and even after that the result might not be final and that completely destroys the feeling and emotion of football.
Article written by Adhya Khandelwal
