The Tribunal arbitral du sport (TAS) will hear representatives of Senegal, Morocco and the Confederation of African Football (CAF) on Thursday, 8 October, as it examines the dispute over the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (CAN 2025) final.
The hearing, in Lausanne, follows several months of written submissions by the parties. The Federation Senegalaise de Football (FSF) is challenging the decision that awarded the title to Morocco by forfeit.
Proceedings are scheduled to begin at 09:30 (GMT+2) at the TAS headquarters and are expected to continue into the afternoon, according to the organisation’s latest statement. The hearing will be held behind closed doors, meaning the media will not be allowed to attend.
The three-member arbitration panel is chaired by French arbitrator Gerald Simon, with Italy’s Luigi Fumagalli and Germany’s Ulrich Haas also sitting on the case.
The panel will consider arguments from Senegal, CAF and the Federation Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF), based on the written submissions and evidence already filed. The proceedings will be conducted in French, allowing the parties to make their arguments directly to the arbitrators.
The panel’s president will control the hearing and ensure that presentations remain concise and focused on arguments already set out in the written documents. The parties will then present their cases before any witnesses or experts previously identified in their submissions are heard.
Final statements will follow, with the defending party – CAF or Morocco – speaking last.
Key issues in the dispute
The arbitrators are expected to examine the events of the final and how they should be interpreted under the relevant rules. That includes the temporary departure of Senegal’s players, their return to the pitch and the resumption of the match under the authority of Jean-Jacques Ndala.
A central question will be whether Articles 82 and 84 of the CAN regulations allowed CAF to overturn the result recorded on the field at a later stage.
The arbitrators may question representatives of the parties directly to clarify particular aspects of their submissions. They can also request additional evidence if they believe further information is needed.
There will be no ruling immediately after Thursday’s hearing. Once the proceedings have ended, the panel will retire to deliberate, and no date has been given for the final decision.
The TAS regulations state that, “as a general rule, only one hearing will be held”. However, the scale of the case means further sessions have not been ruled out.
“The first meeting of the TAS will take place on 8 October. It will not be the last,” Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Federation Royale Marocaine de Football, recently told Jeune Afrique.
The panel could confirm Senegal’s forfeit and Morocco’s title, recognise the result achieved on the pitch in Senegal’s favour, or cancel the CAF appeal committee’s decision and send the case back to the competent body.
Thursday will therefore mark the final presentation of the opposing arguments before the arbitrators deliberate, rather than the day on which the verdict is delivered.
