AFCON 2025: Moroccan journalist claims CAS has ruled, Senegalese counterpart denies

A Moroccan journalist, Anass Izem, claims that the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has already reached its decision in the case opposing the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) and the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, without having yet made the ruling public. The information was immediately challenged by Senegalese journalist Sane Malang.

The dispute stems from the AFCON 2025 final. Senegal won the match on the pitch (1-0 after extra time), but the CAF awarded victory to Morocco by default (3-0) following the temporary stoppage of the match by Senegalese players. The FSF appealed to CAS, with the hearing held on October 8. The ruling was expected by the end of November.

According to Anass Izem, the delay before official publication would serve only to clarify the decision and its clauses, and any subsequent appeal would be inadmissible. Sane Malang responded point by point to these claims, first recalling that CAS is the final arbitral body in sport and that its rulings are final and binding. He then contested the idea that an arbitral decision could be reached before its legal foundations have been established, arguing that arbitrators do not issue a ruling only to seek its reasoning afterwards.

On this last point, a nuance is warranted: it is common in arbitral practice for the operative part of a ruling — that is, its outcome — to be communicated before publication of its detailed reasoning. This procedure does not mean, however, that the arbitrators ruled without examining the legal arguments of the parties.

At this stage, neither of the two reports allows us to establish with certainty that CAS has actually issued its verdict. Only an official announcement from the Swiss body will reveal the content of the decision and the reasons underlying it.