The president of the Senegal Football Association (FA), Abdoulaye Fall, has appealed for restraint as Senegal seeks a way out of the growing legal and diplomatic fallout from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) final in Morocco.
Speaking to the Senegalese news agency, Fall said a “step back” was needed to resolve the fate of 18 Senegalese supporters jailed in Morocco following crowd disturbances during the final.
“It is a painful situation that affects everyone,” he said, adding that sporting disputes should, wherever possible, be settled within football’s own institutions rather than in criminal courts.
Moroccan judges handed the supporters prison terms ranging from three months to one year, alongside fines of up to 5,000 dirhams, after finding them guilty of rioting and violence against security personnel.
The arrests followed scenes of chaos during the final in Rabat, where fans attempted to enter the pitch after the match was halted amid protests by Senegal players over a late penalty awarded to the hosts.
Fall warned that the criminalisation of incidents arising from football matches risked setting a dangerous precedent.
“I am against taking sporting disputes to court,” he said, stressing his preference for disciplinary mechanisms within the game.
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The case of the detained supporters runs parallel to a much wider institutional crisis that has engulfed African football since the controversial final.
Senegal is preparing to take its challenge against the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to the Court of Arbitration for Sport, after exhausting internal appeal options.
CAF had awarded Morocco a 3–0 win by default following Senegal’s withdrawal from the match, a decision that sparked outrage in Dakar and prompted an appeal to the CAF Appeals Committee.
While that body ultimately upheld the original ruling, it stopped short of clarifying the status of the trophy, medals or prize money, arguing that those matters lay outside its jurisdiction.
Notably, CAF has yet to issue a formal declaration naming Morocco as champions of the tournament, prolonging uncertainty more than two months after the final whistle never blew.
According to reports in France, Senegal is now finalising its submission to CAS, where it will argue that its players left the pitch due to security issues amounting to force majeure and that legal sources say any ruling by CAS will be final and binding.
CAS director general Mathieu Reeb confirmed that the court was conscious of the urgency.
“We are aware that the teams and fans wish to know the final decision as soon as possible,” he said, pledging a swift process that respects all parties’ rights.