AFCON 2025: Senegal refuses to return the trophy after CAF’s decision.

Tension has escalated around the AFCON 2025 final. While the Confederation of African Football decided to award the match as a loss to Senegal, the Senegalese team stands its ground and refuses to relinquish the trophy. The continental body indeed ratified a 3-0 Morocco win, the host nation, on a forfeit, after having considered that the Teranga Lions’ exit from the pitch in stoppage time constituted a breach of the regulations. At the origin of the controversy was a strong decision by Pape Thiaw. The coach allegedly ordered his players to leave the pitch after the awarding of a penalty to the Moroccans in the dying seconds of the match.

On the Senegalese side, the response did not take long. According to the British media The Sun, the authorities of Senegalese football denounce a sanction “unjust, unprecedented and unacceptable.” The Secretary General of the Senegalese Football Federation, Abdoulaye Sow, went further by accusing CAF of questionable practices, while affirming that the trophy would not be handed over to the opponent.