AFP
27 Oct <a href="https://absafricatv.com/afreximbank-reports-profit-growth-in-2026/” title=”Afreximbank reports profit growth in 2026″>2026 01:00-05:00
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Morocco legend confirms that the law favours the Atlas Lions
Mustapha Hadji, the legend of the Morocco national team, has affirmed Morocco’s entitlement to win the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations at the expense of Senegal based on the regulations of the Confederation of African Football “CAF”, pointing out that the referee of the famous final, the Congolese Jean Jacques Ndala, made a major mistake.
Hadji said, in avideo interview with Kooora to be published later, “Football is governed by laws, and the law says that if players leave the field of play there must be a penalty, and in general I hope this crisis is not repeated for the sake of the future of African football”.
Asked whether he expected a ruling in Morocco’s favour, he said, “God willing, Morocco did not commit any mistake, while Senegal’s players left the pitch, and therefore the law says it is Morocco’s right to reclaim the Africa Cup title”.
Senegal want CAF’s decision scrapped and the continental title returned to them, arguing that the referee completed the match and so the result on the pitch must stand. Hadji put the blame on the Congolese official.
Africa Cup of Nations Qualification
He explained, “I believe the referee made a major mistake when he decided to complete the match after Senegal’s players left, and the strange thing is that the video assistant referee and the officials of the African federation left the referee to take the decision on his own without intervening”.
The former Moroccan star continued, “The Senegalese know the law, and they know well what happened, it is true they won the match on the field of play, but they realise that the referee took his decision in order to ensure the match was completed without bigger problems”.
He then added, “But the laws of CAF and FIFA say that in the event players leave the field of play for more than 10 or 15 minutes there must be a penalty”.
“Rejecting the CAS decision will harm the future of Africa”
Would the Moroccan public kick off if the ruling went Senegal’s way? Hadji replied, “I hope the final ruling applies to everyone, whoever it may be, but God willing the decision will be in Morocco’s favour”.
Crowned African Player of the Year in 1998, the star stressed, “We are talking about the law of football, we did not steal the cup unjustly, rather we won it by the law according to the events that took place on the pitch”.
On the possibility of appealing the anticipated decision from “CAS”, Hadji concluded his remarks by saying, “I believe it is difficult to go any further than this in this case, especially as that would harm the future of the game in Africa, I want the world to know that there is a law that governs African football”.
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Senegal beat hosts Morocco 1-0 in the final, played in Rabat on 18 January.
CAF then accepted the appeal lodged by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation to award Morocco the title, because Senegal’s players withdrew from the pitch in protest at Ndala’s decision to give the hosts a penalty in the closing minutes of normal time.
The Senegalese federation refused to let it lie. They took their appeal against CAF’s historic and unprecedented decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport “CAS” in Switzerland.
The court held a hearing this October, with representatives of Morocco, Senegal and CAF present, and announced that the final decision would come at the end of next November.
