The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) will hear the case involving Senegal, Morocco and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Thursday, as the dispute over the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final reaches a decisive stage.
The three-person panel appointed to rule on the case will be chaired by French lawyer Gerald Simon, alongside Italy’s Luigi Fumagalli and Germany’s Ulrich Haas. All three are professors of law with extensive experience in sports disputes and international arbitration.
The panel faces one of the most closely watched decisions in recent African football history. The legal dispute concerns the final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and has already prompted several interpretations of the issues involved.
Gerald Simon
Simon is professor emeritus at the University of Bourgogne-Franche-Comte and a recognised specialist in sports law. He previously headed the university’s Sports Law Laboratory, with his research focusing on subjects including the regulatory authority of sports federations and the autonomy of the sporting movement.
He has been a CAS arbitrator for more than two decades. In 2006, he was part of a CAS panel that considered a case involving Le Havre, FIFA, Newcastle and Charles N’Zogbia. That dispute included the consequences of the young French player’s move to Newcastle.
Luigi Fumagalli
Fumagalli, a professor at the University of Milan and a lawyer, has also built up a lengthy record at CAS. He has been a member of the body for 24 years and regularly takes part in sports arbitration proceedings.
The Italian has served as an appeal judge for Euroleague Basketball and was president of the second division of Italy’s anti-doping tribunal.
In 2019, he chaired a CAS panel examining the case involving Kazakhstan player Etzaz Hussain, FC Astana and FIFA. He has also sat on CAS ad hoc panels at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, the 2014 Sochi Olympic Games, Tokyo 2020 and, most recently, Milano-Cortina 2026.
Ulrich Haas
Haas is professor of civil law and civil procedure at the University of Zurich. His work covers international civil procedure, arbitration and sports law, giving him particular expertise in arbitration.
According to the University of Zurich, Haas has taken part, either as chair or as an arbitrator appointed by one of the parties, in more than 200 sport-related arbitration tribunals. Many of those cases were heard by CAS panels.
He was also involved in the 2014 Fenerbahce-UEFA case, which concerned the sanctions imposed on the Turkish club in connection with the match-fixing affair.
The experienced trio will now be responsible for ruling on the Senegal-Morocco dispute arising from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final.
