Senegal vows to fight 'unfair administrative robbery' after CAF strips AFCON title

PARIS (AP) — 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 claimed 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 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 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.

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Abdoulaye Fall, president of the Senegalese soccer federation speaks during a press conference in Dakar, Senegal, Thursday, March 19, 2026. (AP Photo/Misper Apawu)

ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish court on Thursday issued a ruling that effectively removed the head of the country’s main opposition party by annulling a 2023 congress that elected him.

The move deals a serious blow to the beleaguered Republican People’s Party, or CHP, as it struggles under waves of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials.

An appeals court in Turkey’s capital Ankara declared the CHP congress that picked Ozgur Ozel as chairman to be null, ordering that he should be replaced by his predecessor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Last year, a lower court ruled against claims of irregularities and misconduct surrounding Ozel’s election but Thursday’s decision overturned the original verdict.

The ruling led to frantic meetings at the CHP’s Ankara headquarters, further threatening the opposition’s chances of unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after more than two decades in office. Large crowds gathered outside the office block and police erected barriers.

The next presidential election is due in 2028 but Erdogan can call for an early vote. His main challenger, the CHP mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, has been imprisoned since March last year and is currently on trial on corruption charges.

The appeals court's decision suspends Ozel and members of the party’s executive board from their duties. They will be “provisionally” replaced by Kilicdaroglu and those who held office before the November 2023 congress.

In comments to broadcaster TV100, Kilicdaroglu called for party members to remain calm. “Our party is a very large party and it will solve its own problems internally,” he said. The 77-year-old was removed following a 13-year tenure as leader, during which the CHP failed to win any national elections.

Ozel, meanwhile, attempted to rally supporters.

“I am not promising you a path to power through a rose garden,” he posted on X following the ruling. “I am promising you the ability to endure suffering but never surrender. I am promising you honor, dignity, courage and struggle!”

The CHP is expected to challenge Thursday’s ruling in the Supreme Court in the coming days.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek, who oversaw several cases against the CHP in his former role as Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, described the court’s ruling as one that “reinforces our citizens’ trust in democracy.”

Many observers have said that the legal cases against the CHP — mostly centered on corruption allegations — are politically motivated and aimed at neutralizing the party ahead of the next election. The government, however, insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.

Erdogan has ruled Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, since 2003. His electoral record suffered a serious blow in 2019 when the CHP seized control of several major cities in local elections. In Istanbul, Imamoglu emerged as a popular and charismatic figure that many felt could successfully topple Erdogan.

FILE - Republican People's Party or (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel gestures to party members during his speech during a CHP convention, in Ankara, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ali Unal, File)

FILE - Turkish CHP party leader and Nation Alliance's presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, center, joins legislators elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as they attend their first parliamentary session, in Ankara, Turkey, June 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ali Unal, File)