Senegal vows to fight ‘unfair administrative robbery’ after being stripped of African title

PARIS — Senegal was the victim of “the most grossly unfair administrative robbery” in the history of soccer when it was stripped of the Africa Cup of Nations title, Senegalese Football Association president Abdoulaye Fall said on Thursday.

At a news conference in Paris, Fall said Senegal will fight to defend its players’ “honor” at the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Lawyer Seydou Diagne said Senegal suffered a “betrayal” and has gathered international lawyers from Switzerland, Spain, France and Senegal to plead the case. The Senegalese FA is challenging a surprise ruling last week by the Confederation of African Football to strip Senegal of the title won in a chaotic final in January and award it to host nation Morocco.

Senegal’s legal team said the country still considers itself the champion of Africa despite the CAF’s ruling. The CAF ‘s appeals board ruled that Senegal is “declared to have forfeited the final” and its 1-0 win in extra time became a 3-0 default win for host nation Morocco.

“If CAS let this situation happen, the winner of the next World Cup could be decided within a lawyers’ firm,” Diagne said.

Senegal is in France to play a friendly against Peru at the Stade de France on Saturday as part of its preparations for the World Cup. The Senegalese FA said it will present the Africa Cup trophy to its fans before the game.

Senegal’s appeal to be reinstated as the Africa Cup champion was registered on Wednesday by CAS, which set no timetable for a likely long process toward a verdict. The appeal was promised by the Senegalese government, which also called for an international investigation “into suspected corruption” within the CAF.

Lawyers for the Senegalese FA said during the press conference they were investigating whether members of the CAF appeals panel may have been corrupted and, if so, could file legal action.

CAS said the Senegal federation asked for extra time to file an appeal brief because CAF has not yet given detailed written reasons to explain its decision. Serge Vittoz, one of the federation lawyers, said if there was a procedural flaw regarding the issue of reasoning the legal team will address it. He argued that the CAF disciplinary code required that all decisions be reasoned, so the appeals panel has breached this rule.

“For that reason, we consider that the decision has no effect,” he said.

CAF appeal judges took the title from Senegal two months after the final in Rabat as punishment for players walking off in protest and causing a 15-minute stoppage after Morocco was awarded a penalty that was set to decide the title with the last kick. When Senegal returned to the field and play restarted the Morocco penalty was saved, sending the game into extra time. Senegal scored the only goal in extra time.

The laws of soccer state that the referee’s decision on the field of play is final.

The CAF judges, however, cited a tournament rule that any team refusing to play “shall be eliminated for good from the current competition.”

The verdict in Morocco’s appeal of CAF disciplinary rulings from January fueled a perception the country, which will co-host the 2030 World Cup, has increasing influence in international soccer politics.

CAF’s South African president Patrice Motsepe insisted last week “not a single country in Africa will be treated in a manner that is more preferential, or more advantageous, or more favorable than any other.”

An appeal to CAS can typically take months to schedule a hearing then weeks or months more to announce a verdict. Senegal’s lawyers, however, will ask CAS to open an expedited procedure and hope the Moroccan federation and the CAF agree so that the case can be dealt with within two months.