Motsepe Flies to Senegal to Defuse AFCON 2025 Final Crisis
CAF President Patrice Motsepe has flown to Senegal in a bid to contain the diplomatic fallout from one of African football’s most chaotic finals in recent memory.
The AFCON 2025 showpiece between Morocco and Senegal in Casablanca descended into chaos — crowd disturbances, on-field clashes, and Senegal’s withdrawal from the pitch. The Lions of Teranga eventually returned and won 1-0. Then CAF’s Disciplinary Committee overturned the result entirely, awarding the trophy to Morocco 3-0.
Senegal refused to accept it. The Senegalese Football Federation filed an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport and, in open defiance, paraded the trophy before a domestic friendly.
Weeks later, there is still no officially declared AFCON champion.
“We will not allow football to cause tensions in the historic relationship between the Moroccan and Senegalese peoples,” Motsepe said on his arrival in Dakar.
The CAS appeal remains pending. Both nations have dug in. And Motsepe is now personally mediating before the legal process runs its course — a measure of just how explosive this situation has become.
African football has had controversies. Few have looked quite like this.