The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has sent Mady Toure’s challenge against the Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) presidential election back to the federation’s electoral appeals commission, ruling that his case should not have been dismissed without being examined on its merits.
The decision, announced from Lausanne on Friday, relates to the election held on 2 and 3 August 2025, when Abdoulaye Fall was elected president of the FSF for a four-year term.
Toure, who stood as a candidate for the presidency, left the electoral general assembly before the second round. He raised concerns over alleged irregularities involving the notices convening the meeting, the conduct of proceedings, transparency in the verification of voters and the counting of ballots.
He initially appealed to the FSF’s electoral appeals commission, but his case was ruled inadmissible on 25 August 2025. Toure then referred the dispute to CAS on 11 September, seeking, among other measures, the annulment of the electoral process and the organisation of a new electoral general assembly.
CAS rejects grounds for dismissing appeal
Following a video-conference hearing on 10 March 2026, the CAS arbitration panel concluded that the FSF appeals commission had not been legally justified in declaring Toure’s case inadmissible.
The international sports tribunal said the decision “was not legally founded and violated the FSF Electoral Code”.
CAS also ruled that the commission should not have limited its consideration to whether the appeal was admissible. It said the commission “should have examined the annulment appeal filed by Mr Toure and taken a decision on the merits”.
In effect, the ruling means Toure should not have been excluded from the procedure before his objections to the election process had been properly assessed.
However, CAS has not annulled the election of Fall. It said it did not have enough information at this stage to rule directly on the substantive arguments made by Toure.
Because the FSF appeals commission did not carry out the necessary investigative measures before rejecting the case, CAS has returned the file to that body. The commission must now reconsider Toure’s appeal in line with the reasoning set out in the CAS decision and issue a fresh ruling on the merits.
Fall therefore remains president of the FSF. CAS has not ordered a new election and has not declared the August 2025 vote invalid.
Election dispute enters a new phase
The decision nevertheless represents a significant setback for the FSF’s electoral appeals commission, which must now address Toure’s complaints in full rather than dismissing them on procedural grounds.
The commission will have to examine the allegations of irregularities raised by Toure and decide whether they could affect the validity of the electoral process.
The final position on the legality of the 2025 vote remains unresolved. CAS has effectively required the FSF to examine Toure’s challenge on its substance, reopening a dispute that had appeared to have been closed by the earlier inadmissibility ruling.
Fall remains in office, but the legal controversy surrounding his election has been revived.
