Morocco Crowned AFCON 2025 Winners After CAF Overturns Senegal Result
Scotland's World Cup Group C opponents Morocco have been crowned AFCON champions after shock ruling, months after losing 1-0 after extra time.
African football has never been short on drama, but this one just about tops the lot. Two months after Senegal celebrated winning the Africa Cup of Nations, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has overturned the result and handed the title to Morocco instead.
This all stems from January’s chaotic final in Marrakech, where Senegal beat the hosts 1–0 in extra time. But the real flashpoint came deep into stoppage time when Morocco were awarded a penalty with the game still goalless. The Senegalese players, convinced they’d been stitched up, refused to carry on and walked off the pitch.
For 17 minutes, the final descended into farce. Players gathered on the sidelines, coaches argued, and officials tried to convince Senegal to return to the pitch. Eventually, they did long enough for Brahim Diaz to see his penalty saved. Then, in a cruel twist, Pape Gueye popped up in extra time to nick the winner. Senegal lifted the cup, while Morocco were left fuming about both the result and the delay.
After a formal appeal by the Moroccan FA, CAF has now ruled that Senegal’s actions broke Article 82 of the competition regulations - that says any team refusing to play or leaving the pitch without permission automatically forfeits the match. Article 84 kicks in too, stipulating that the result be recorded as a 3–0 loss.
So, in administrative terms, Senegal didn’t just lose the final, they forfeited it. Morocco are now officially champions of Africa, despite losing the final over 120 minutes.
It’s a ruling that will no doubt split opinion. On one side, there’s a clear rulebook violation. On the other, you’ve got players reacting in the heat of the moment to what they felt was an outrageous penalty decision, hardly a unique occurrence in football.
In the end, it’s a typically CAF finish controversy on top of controversy, and a final result decided not by goals or glory, but by lawyers and committee rooms. Morocco might have their medal ceremony reinstated, but the story of this AFCON will forever be about what happened and didn’t happen in those 17 minutes of chaos.
Scotland will face Morocco in Group C of the 2026 World Cup on June 19th in Boston.