What's the next move for Senegal after the Lions of Teranga were stripped of AFCON 2025 title?

CAF, the governing body of football's African confederation, has stripped Senegal of the Africa Cup of Nations title and installed host nation Morocco as champions.

Senegal and Morocco met in an ill-tempered and chaotic final in Rabat in January, during which the Senegalese team left the field in protest after a stoppage-time penalty was awarded to Morocco.

More than quarter of an hour later, the teams returned to the field and Morocco's Brahim Diaz, one of the tournament's star players and its top scorer, clipped the penalty harmlessly into the arms of Senegal goalkeeper Edouard Mendy.

Why are Senegal no longer the champions of AFCON 2025?

Pape Gueye scored Senegal's winning goal early in extra time but CAF has upheld an appeal from the Moroccan FA, overturning the result of the final and awarding a 3-0 win and the title to the hosts.

The confederation body has been immediately and widely criticised for the decision, which amounts to a ruling that the Lions of Teranga had forfeited the final by leaving the pitch.

Senegal's FA maintains that their head coach Pape Thiaw – since fined and suspended for his actions – and his players took the action they did because of the 'grossly illegal and deeply unjust decision' that went against them.

Article 82 of the Africa Cup of Nations regulations stipulates that a team leaving the pitch without the permission of the referee forfeits the match. Article 84 states that they will be declared the losing team. Neither CAF officials or the referee, Jean-Jacques Ndala, enforced that on the day.

Irrespective of the subsequent legal machinations, the supposedly forfeited match was played to a conclusion in front of an ever-growing global audience. Morocco's appeal and the decision to award a continental tournament title long after the fact are unprecedented.

What happened in the AFCON 2025 final?

Deep into stoppage time of the final in Rabat, Senegal's Ismaila Sarr scored what might have been the winning goal. Ndala ruled that Abdoulaye Seck had fouled Achraf Hakimi immediately before the goal was scored.

With no VAR review possible as a result of Ndala awarding the foul before the ball crossed the line, the score remained at 0-0.

VAR was later used to give Morocco a penalty for an apparent foul on Diaz by El Hadji Malick Diouf, at which point Senegal began their protest.

Sadio Mane has been credited with persuading his teammates to return to the pitch and play out the final, which they eventually won with a big helping hand from Diaz's flunked Panenka penalty.

The delay was best by disturbances in the crowd, with Senegalese supporters accused of attempting to invade the pitch at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in the Moroccan capital.

What is Senegal's next move?

While CAF and Morocco, Africa's arguably most influential football nation when it comes to continental and global matters, undoubtedly consider the matter closed, Senegal certainly do not.

The short-lived two-time AFCON champions are seething at an institutional level, though some of their players have laughed at the idea that their success has been erased and their celebrations rendered meaningless.

"This decision is a breach of trust that is not based on any rule of law," said Senegalese FA secretary general Abdoulaye Seydou Sow in a television interview.

Senegal's FA and government are not of a mind to brush off the decision. They intend to pursue every available route in the way of their own appeal, which will keep the subject open for some time but seems unlikely to bear fruit.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino unsurprisingly came down firmly on the side of Morocco, leaving the Court of Arbitration of Sport as the next and last port of call for the dethroned winners.