Football Scandal: Two Months Later, Senegal Stripped of Africa Cup of Nations Title
The results of the Africa Cup of Nations football tournament were reviewed two months after a similarly scandalous final. Senegal was awarded a 0:3 technical defeat for leaving the field, and the Moroccan national team was declared the winner.
Photo: Torbjorn Tande/DeFodi Images/DeFodi via Getty Images
The Confederation of African Football announced that it is upholding Morocco's appeal and awarding the Senegal national team a 0:3 technical defeat for leaving the field after a penalty awarded for a foul on Brahim Diaz in the 98th minute, writes Sports.ru.
The tournament took place in Morocco, and the final was held on January 18. The final game only resumed after 13 minutes – Brahim missed the penalty – and ended with a victory for the Senegalese (1:0).
Yesterday, the Confederation of African Football unexpectedly announced that it had annulled the result of the scandalous Africa Cup of Nations final. Victory was awarded to Morocco. CAF announced that it is upholding Morocco's appeal – and is assigning Senegal a 0:3 technical defeat for voluntarily leaving the field. They refer to point 82 of the tournament rules.
It states: "If, for any reason, a team withdraws from the competition, fails to appear for a match, refuses to play, or leaves the field before the end of the match without the referee's permission, it shall be considered to have lost and must be excluded from the tournament."
Apparently, the Moroccan team's leverage was the detail about leaving the field – and it worked. Point 84 states that a violation of point 82 leads to a technical defeat. The Appeals Committee decided that Senegal is considered to have lost the final.
At the first disciplinary hearing, CAF imposed fines totaling over a million dollars, and there were disqualifications of players and officials from Senegal and Morocco – but the result remained unchanged at that time. CAF confirmed that the Moroccan appeal "was deemed acceptable in form and upheld."
The case may be referred for further review to the Court of Arbitration for Sport. It is possible that Senegal will not leave it at that and will continue the fight in court.
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