Morocco is awaiting a disciplinary ruling from the Confederation of African Football after the Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal ended in disorder, with Rabat saying that the credibility of the tournament it hosted and financed is now in CAF’s hands as it weighs sanctions over conduct that disrupted play.
CAF has said it is reviewing the incidents, after Senegal’s players briefly walked off the pitch in protest at a VAR awarded penalty during the final, before returning and winning 1 to 0 after extra time, while clashes later broke out involving some Senegal supporters and Moroccan security, an episode that triggered arrests and political management on both sides.
Several Moroccan outlets reported that CAF’s disciplinary commission has put the case under deliberation and is expected to issue its verdict within 48 hours, a timetable that has turned the decision into a wider test of enforcement rather than a technical argument over refereeing.
King Mohammed VI described the scenes as deplorable while urging African fraternity, a message aimed at containing a surge of hostile online exchanges and insulating Morocco’s wider African partnerships from a match day breakdown that officials insist should not erase the organisational gains of the tournament.
Senegal’s prime minister, Ousmane Sonko, also called the incidents deplorable and painful, said they should not be read as a political or cultural rupture, and confirmed that 18 Senegalese supporters had been arrested in Morocco and would face trial.
Morocco’s football federation has signalled that it will pursue institutional and legal avenues, with any appeal route likely to depend on how CAF frames responsibility for the walk off and subsequent misconduct, while FIFA president Gianni Infantino has publicly criticised the behaviour of Senegal’s players and coaching staff.
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