Abdoulaye Sow, Secretary General of the Senegalese Football Association, reviewed in detail the absurd process by which the Confederation of African Football (CAF) revoked the Senegalese national team's qualification for the championship.
The Senegalese side firmly believes that "the decision was prepared before CAF announced it."
On March 17, CAF announced that despite Senegal's 1-0 victory on the field, they were stripped of their title for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and transferred to Morocco.
CAF's Appeals Committee cited Rules 82 and 84 of the Africa Cup of Nations as grounds that if a team "refuses to play or leaves the field before the normal end of the match," it "will be considered a failure and will be directly eliminated from the tournament." The decision sparked strong reactions internationally, especially in Senegal.
The Senegalese Football Association has filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). At a press conference, Football Association President Abdoulaye Fall called the Senegalese team the victim of "the most brutal administrative robbery in the history of the sport". Ten days after the verdict was announced, Abdoulaye Sow, Secretary General of the Senegalese Football Association, gave an interview reviewing the entire hearing process: "The Disciplinary Committee's initial ruling was in our favor, while penalizing us for the violations we acknowledged. We have never denied that there were indeed some violations on the part of Senegal, which are clearly stipulated in the Association's Articles of Association and Disciplinary Code. We accepted these penalties."
Abdoulaye Sow continued to describe the appeal process: "After Morocco filed an appeal, CAF informed us that the online hearing was scheduled for 7 a.m. on March 17. But late on the 16th, the time was changed to 9 a.m. We arrived at the Football Association at 7 a.m. to wait until 9 a.m. At 9:15 a.m., the Nigerian Chairman of the Appeals Committee arrived, introduced the jury and asked us to appear, asking the Moroccan side to present its case first, which Morocco did."
Was Senegal ignored at the hearing?
Abdoulaye Sow recalled: "The Chairman of the Appeals Committee asked us to respond to the questions, and our lawyer began to speak, after which only one or two questions were discussed - whether Articles 82, 83 and 84 were applicable? After our lawyer answered, the discussion ended. They asked us to go to the waiting room to wait for feedback, and we waited in front of the computer for two hours. Two hours later, Morocco's lawyer called our lawyer to say that the hearing was over. I couldn't believe it, there was no formal debate at all. I called the Chairman, who told me to contact CAF directly. I called the CAF Secretary General, who told me 'the meeting is over' without notifying us. I tried to contact the Chairman, but the platform was closed two minutes later. The meeting started, but we have never had a debate to this day."
Eventually, CAF announced that Senegal had lost the match by "deliberately abandoning the match." Abdoulaye Sow explained: "There is ambiguity here. Some say that CAF stripped Senegal of the title, but that is not the case in the ruling we received. Morocco made four requests: one, to confirm Senegal's withdrawal; two, to award Morocco the match; three, to strip Senegal of the trophy; and four, to transfer the prize money to Morocco. The ruling acknowledged the first two: Senegal did withdraw and the match was awarded to Morocco. But it rejected Morocco's other two requests. "
The Senegalese Football Association emphasized that the ruling was notified to both parties and the media at the same time, and the news was reported at about 22:30 that night, which was only one hour after the ruling was issued and 30 minutes later than they requested the grounds for the ruling. Abdoulaye Sow bluntly stated: "There is no justice at all. I have a strong feeling that this ruling was prepared a long time ago." He firmly believes that "this is the result of someone deliberately manipulating the timetable."