Earthquake in the Africa Cup: Senegal loses the title on forfeit and requests an investigation for corruption

Africa Cup 2026 did not conclude with the final whistle on the pitch of Moulay Abdellah in Rabat, but in the halls of sports justice. Two months before January 18, 2026, the date when Senegal lifted the trophy after defeating Morocco 1-0, the Appeals Jury of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) overturned the outcome, awarding a 0-3 victory to the Moroccan team.

The response from Dakar was very harsh. The Senegalese government issued a statement calling the verdict “illegal and deeply unjust”, also requesting the opening of “an independent international investigation” for suspicions of corruption against the CAF leadership. A very serious accusation that shifts the confrontation from the grass of the stadium to the halls of continental football power.

The central issue concerns the interpretation of articles 82 and 84 of the regulations. At 90’+8 of the final, Senegal's players had briefly left the field to protest against a penalty awarded to Morocco (which was then missed by Brahim Díaz), returning immediately after and prevailing in extra time thanks to a goal from Pape Gueye.

While in the first instance the CAF had limited itself to fines and individual suspensions, in the appeal the automatic defeat for “abandonment without referee authorization” was triggered. For the authorities in Dakar, this is a “clearly erroneous interpretation of the regulations”.

Senegal's defense line is based on a cornerstone of sports justice: the match was regularly completed under the direction of the referee, who, according to Law 5 of the IFAB, holds full and unchallengeable authority on the field. The retroactive assignment of the forfeit, according to this thesis, would not be an act of fairness but a possible illicit maneuver in favor of the Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), which had immediately requested the title to be awarded on a forfeit basis.

The situation takes on paradoxical contours considering that Morocco's head coach, Walid Regragui, had resigned at the beginning of March precisely for not having won the cup on the field, two weeks before the official overturn that changed the fate of the tournament.

Now the match moves to Europe. Senegal, determined to pursue “all appropriate avenues of appeal”, has announced its intention to turn to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne. There it will be determined whether the authority of the referee on the field or the strict application of regulatory loopholes will prevail, while the shadow of a corruption investigation threatens to shake the institutional architecture of African football.