This week has been full of drama. It is was in the world of football where two major competitions were talked about. One of them is the African Cup Of Nations (AFCON) and the other being the UEFA Champions League.
Despite losing the final, Morocco were declared the winners which has caused great anger and frustration. Meanwhile, in Europe, four of the six teams were knocked out of the Champions League. This has caused great concern for the Premier League and the level it currently plays in.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) made the extraordinary move on Wednesday to strip Senegal of their 2025 AFCON title and award it to the defeated finalists, Morocco.
The move came after a review of an incident at the end of normal time in the 18 January final, which saw the match delayed by 14 minutes after the Senegal players left the field in protest against refereeing decisions.
Morocco missed a subsequent penalty, which, in part, led to the protest and a pitch invasion by some fans, with Senegal going on to win the match 1-0 after extra time.
The Senegal Football Federation (FSF) is now set to challenge the decision by CAF’s Appeals Board, a move that may spread well beyond African football and take more than a year to resolve.
Also Read: Oh What A (Woeful) Night
Before the match was played, complaints had been made by Senegal and other opponents of Morocco that refereeing decisions were favouring the host nation – something the then-Moroccan manager, Walid Ragraoui, vehemently rebuffed.
During the walk-off by their players and staff, some of the Senegalese fans took to the field to protest. Subsequently, 18 of those arrested were handed prison sentences, ranging from three months to one year; along with fines of up to 5 000 Moroccan dirhams ($545).
Senegal’s Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, in a move that followed his country’s football association, denounced their sentencing by Morocco on 20 February.
CAF’s disciplinary procedure resulted in fines totalling more than $1m and the banning of Senegal’s coach and Senegalese and Moroccan players on 29 January.
The sanctions, however, only applied to African games and not the FIFA World Cup 2026, which kicks off in June and for which Senegal and Morocco have both qualified.
Of the fines, which were substantial against the FSF, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) was fined $200 000 for the behaviour of the home team’s ball boys, who, at one stage, tried to seize a towel being used by Senegalese goalkeeper, Edouard Mendy.
Then-Morocco coach Walid Regragui said the game had given African football a "shameful" image, while his Senegalese counterpart, Papa Thiaw, defended his actions – and those of his players – on Instagram. "It was never my intention to go against the principles of the game I love so much. I simply tried to protect my players from injustice," he said.
An immediate appeal, which was dismissed at the time by CAF, was made by Morocco for the result to be cancelled and for them to be declared the winners because of the Senegalese walk-off.
FIFA President, Gianni Infantino, however, slammed Senegal’s walk-off the day after the final and the FRMF announced it was pursuing legal action with FIFA and CAF because it "significantly impacted the normal flow of the match and the players’ performance."
Tuesday’s decision, two months after the final and Morocco’s initial approach, came after CAF’s appeals board ruled on the matter.
The board said Senegal is "declared to have forfeited" the match by leaving the field. The 1-0 result after the resumption, it said, was now "being officially recorded as 3-0" in favour of Morocco.
CAF cited article 82 of the tournament regulations for its marquee event to justify the verdict enforced on appeal, though not at the first hearing.
It states: "If, for any reason whatsoever, a team withdraws from the competition or does not report for a match, or refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorization of the referee, it shall be considered loser and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition."
Still, the appeal verdict did seem to override the referee’s authority in making field-of-play decisions.
It is unlikely that this will end the matter and the case is set to go to a further appeal – potentially at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).
The FSF has condemned the decision to strip them of the title, labelling it "unfair, unprecedented, and unacceptable" and saying it casts a shadow over African football.
"The Senegalese Football Federation denounces this unfair, unprecedented, and unacceptable decision, which casts a shadow over African football," it said in a statement on Wednesday.
"To defend its rights and the interests of Senegalese football, the federation will initiate an appeal as soon as possible before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne."
Should the counter appeal by Senegal indeed go beyond CAF’s own panel to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne, Switzerland, the process typically takes a year to deliver a verdict.
"The FSF reaffirms its unwavering commitment to the values of integrity and sporting justice and will keep the public informed of developments in this matter," the federation said.
The verdict on Tuesday awarded Morocco their first African title since 1976 and denied Senegal their second, which they last won in 2021.
Abdoulaye Seydou Sow, secretary-general of the FSF, immediately reacted by saying the organisation would appeal. "We will not back down. The law is on our side," Sow told the public broadcaster, Radiodiffusion Television Senegalaise, late on Tuesday.
He called the ruling a "shame for Africa." "This decision is a travesty that rests on no legal basis. We felt that the panel was not there to apply the law, but to carry out an order," Sow said.
Senegal defender, Moussa Niakhate, posted a story on Instagram with an image of himself holding the trophy and the message that said: "Come and get it! They’re crazy!"
In a similar story post, left back, El Hadj Malick Diouf, added: "It’s not what I expected … this thing isn’t going anywhere."
Claude Le Roy, who managed Senegal between 1988 and 1992, said: "No one could have imagined such a statement two months after the final. “For years, all the refereeing decisions have been flouted by the CAF," the veteran coach said on French television.
Senegal’s government has called for an "independent international investigation" into corruption following the decision by the CAF to strip the country of its AFCON title and award it to Morocco.
"By calling into question a result achieved at the end of a match that was properly played and won in accordance with the rules of the game, the CAF seriously undermines its own credibility," Senegal’s government spokeswoman, Marie Rose Khady Fatou Faye, said in a statement on Wednesday.
"Senegal unequivocally rejects this unjustified attempt at dispossession," she said while calling for, "an independent international investigation into suspected corruption within the CAF’s governing bodies."
Senegal’s Prime Minister, Ousmane Sonko, previously weighed in on the fallout from the final when he followed his country’s football federation in denouncing Morocco’s jailing of 18 Senegalese fans following violence during a pitch invasion during the player protest in the January 18 final in Rabat.
Of February’s sentencing, which spanned from three months to a year and included fines, he told the Senegalese parliament: "It seems this matter goes beyond the realm of sport and that is regrettable."
"For two countries that call each other friends, like Morocco and Senegal, things should not have gone this far."
While those behind desks launch appeals and write statements, Senegal’s players took to social media to share photos of the celebrations all those weeks ago.
That’s kind of the point. "We know what we experienced that night in Rabat. And no one can take that away from us," Senegal midfielder, Idrissa Gueye, said on social media Tuesday.
Of course, there will be some in Morocco who will welcome the decision and celebrate what to some would feel like a hollow victory because the feelings from the final have already been felt.
It was Senegal that lifted the trophy; it was Senegal that enjoyed a bus parade through the streets of its nation’s capital.
Morocco’s players, meanwhile, have spent the last two months processing the defeat. Their fans have been healing the wounds from missing out on an opportunity to properly celebrate an international trophy.
While the disputes will likely take many months to settle in CAS, no statement from a governing body or some corporate boardroom can rewrite what happened after the final whistle in January.
The FRMF has commended the decision to award its country the 2025 AFCON title, which was stripped from Senegal.
The FRMF, "welcomes the decision, which reaffirms the primacy of competition regulations and reinforces the conditions necessary for the proper conduct of international tournaments," the federation said in a statement on Thursday.
"From the outset, following the incidents that led to the interruption of the match, the FRMF maintained a clear and consistent position: the strict application of the governing regulations. The Federation’s approach was solely guided by this principle," the FRMF statement read.
"Following its appeal, CAF has now confirmed that the applicable regulations were not properly enforced."
"Throughout the process, the FRMF acted in full compliance with all relevant legal and procedural frameworks, with a constant focus on upholding its rights and preserving the integrity of the competition," it said in the statement.
"This decision provides clarity on the applicable framework and strengthens the consistency and credibility of international competitions, particularly within African football."
Former Chairperson of the CAF Disciplinary Board, Raymond Hack, has bemoaned the decision of the continental football governing body’s Appeal Board to strip Senegal of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title.
The Board has now declared hosts Morocco as champions.
It ruled that Senegal forfeited the match 3-0 after the players staged a walkout in protest of a penalty awarded against them in the chaotic Afcon final in Rabat on 19 January.
A month ago, CAF handed down heavy sanctions to both Senegal and Morocco for serious violations of the CAF Disciplinary Code, following the chaotic scenes that overshadowed the Afcon final.
The Moroccan Football Federation successfully appealed the sanctions. And almost two months later, the Appeal Board ruled that Senegal forfeited the match and declared Morocco 3-0 winners.
"I think it’s certainly a disadvantage for football in Africa. It shows a terrible image for football in Africa, because when you get a situation where your own body appeals against your disciplinary body, are you then saying our disciplinary body is not good enough to hear the matter? Why did you appoint them in the first place? That is as far as that is concerned. But as far as the appeal is concerned, I think the appeal’s body got it totally wrong," says Hack.
Hack said when Senegal returned to the field of play, Morocco should've responded immediately by indicating that they are continuing under protest.
"Firstly, the only person who can end the game is the referee here. Yes, members of the team walked off. So, what should have happened is that the Moroccan team should have gone to the referee to say the team has walked off, blow your whistle and declare us as the winners. But they didn’t. What happened is they went back to the field and they played extra time. Also, when they went back to the field, they didn’t say to the referee, we are playing extra time under protest, which would have allowed them to take the matter on appeal afterwards. They continued with the game," explained Hack.
It was ruled that Senegal violated Article 82 and 84 of the Regulations of the Africa Cup of Nations. But Hack questions the finding.
"And because they lost, you then go on appeal. How long does it take for an appeal in a matter like this, a cup final? You know we had it, I think it was 2019 in the club championships with Wydad, where the team walked off the field of play. The referee blew for it. They then went for appeal afterwards and it went to the court of arbitration. The court of arbitration said, ‘no, the referee blew for the end of the game and that’s the end’. Here, the referee blew the whistle at the end of extra time. Only the referee can close the game off, no one else can do it," explaied Hack.
Football is and should always be played on the pitch. Any attempts to change that will only cause more people to turn away from the game that the world fell in love with.
Heading up north and to Europe; the Premier League is somewhat shown to be an embarrassment due to the number of the exits the Champions League has shown.
The Champions League's last-16 stage delivered an unusually stark reckoning for the Premier League, with only Arsenal and Liverpool advancing from the six English clubs that reached the knockout rounds.
For the first time, all six Premier League sides competing in Europe's top competition had made the last 16; with five of them finishing inside the top eight of the league phase but the English dominance proved short-lived.
Manchester City, Chelsea, Newcastle United and Tottenham Hotspur were all eliminated at the same stage - the first time four teams from a single nation have exited together in the round of 16.
The four teams conceded 28 goals, denoting how exposed the clubs were over two legs.
The scale of the exodus, however, stands in sharp contrast to recent history.
Between 2018 and 2023, Premier League clubs reached at least one Champions League final in five of six seasons, often supplying multiple semi‑finalists and winning the trophy three times.
The Premier League remains Europe's most physically demanding domestic competition, with relentless schedules, limited recovery time and little room for player rotation without consequence.
Managers are often forced to field near full-strength sides week after week amid title races, qualification battles or relegation pressure.
"They've played over 100 games in 18 months, they've had no break in terms of the international games," Chelsea manager, Liam Rosenior, said after the Champions League exit.
"If I don't manage their minutes their likelihood of getting injured increases highly."
By contrast, leading clubs outside England are often able to prioritise the Champions League more aggressively. With less demanding domestic opposition, they rotate more freely and manage workloads with Europe in mind.
Real Madrid, despite injury problems this season, have used 32 players in La Liga.
The cumulative effect is fatigue which gets largely exposed across two-legged European ties, just as Newcastle appeared to fade in their second leg after half-time; conceding four goals to Barcelona to lose 7-2 on Wednesday, 8-3 on aggregate.
"For Real Madrid, everything is about the Champions League, whereas in England it is about qualifying for the Champions League next year if you are not in the title race," former Liverpool defender, Stephen Warnock, told BBC Sport. "It is a little bit different in the way the teams look at it."
Premier League football rewards pace and intensity but Champions League knockouts frequently demand control and restraint. Several English sides appeared uncomfortable navigating momentum swings and conceded early.
"I think in the Champions League they're more decisive on the counter-attack," former Crystal Palace winger, Andros Townsend, said. "If you lose the ball, you get punished."
With Arsenal and Liverpool left, the Premier League's European standing now rests on whether control, rather than confidence, can carry them deeper into the competition.
England are still in a commanding position to secure a fifth Champions League place for the 2026/27 campaign - despite a disappointing set of results in the last-16 stage.
Four out of the six Premier League sides - Chelsea, Manchester City, Newcastle and Tottenham Hotspur - were eliminated on Tuesday and Wednesday night; leaving just Arsenal and Liverpool left in the competition.
England is still comfortably on top of the UEFA coefficient table, which measures how each country's clubs perform across the three European competitions.
The top two at the end of the campaign are awarded extra Champions League places, known as European Performance Spots. England secured one of the spots last season, along with Spain.
Each nation is awarded points based on the performance of their clubs in the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
Its points totals are then divided by the number of clubs it has competing in European competition, with nations ranked in the table by their average scores.
Wins are worth two coefficient points, draws are worth one, and defeats are worth none. Additionally, bonus points are awarded according to finishing positions in the league phase tables, and progress through each knockout round.
The bonus points are far higher in the Champions League compared to the other two competitions.
The team finishing top of the Champions League phase table earns 12 bonus points, compared to six for the team finishing top of the Europa League league phase table and four for the team finishing top of the Conference League league phase table.
England is five coefficient points ahead of third-placed Germany, who have four teams left in European competitions. England still has five teams remaining, ahead of Thursday night's European action.
Two German sides - Freiburg and VfB Stuttgart - have to overturn first-leg defeats at home in order to reach the Europa League quarter-finals.
England also sits four points ahead of second-placed Spain. England is also five points ahead of fourth-placed Portugal, but fifth-placed Italy cannot overtake England in the rankings now, with every single Serie A team now eliminated from the Champions League.
Part of the reason England still sits in a comfortable position is due to the knockout stage draws.
Closest coefficient rival, Spain, is weakened by the fact that Barcelona and Atletico Madrid face each other in the quarter-finals - so one La Liga team will definitely be eliminated.
The other Spanish team in the Champions League - Real Madrid - faces a German side in Bayern Munich in the quarter-finals. Looking at the coefficient table, that also suits England's case.
In the Europa League, Real Betis and Celta Vigo are set to meet in the semi-final stage, if both those teams even get that far, which also boosts England - who can still have an all-English Champions League final between Arsenal and Liverpool.
England's chances of keeping Portugal at bay are also in its own hands, should Arsenal beat Sporting CP in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Should Aston Villa or Nottingham Forest reach the Europa League final, that also means they would have fared better than FC Porto, who are on their side of the draw.
England are not mathematically assured of a fifth Champions League place - and history has shown how it can easily fall apart.
In the 2023/24 season, England was - like this year - destined for an extra Champions League place but then Arsenal, Manchester City and West Ham were all knocked out of their European quarter-finals, which ended up costing England.
So there will still be work for Arsenal, Liverpool and the remaining Europa and Conference League (Crystal Palace) teams to do to get that extra spot at Europe's top table.
I believe that Morocco are doing this as per means of sour grapes. They can't accept that they lost on home soil so they're tryng to find a loophole into winning the competition. This isn't the way to go to win it. I hope Senegal "regain" the trophy and title.
I was shocked as to the outcome of the Round of 16. I wasn't expecting that many teams to get the boot from the competition. I foresaw a possible two but not double that.
The only hope is that the English teams learn to adjust their plays between their own country and when they play in Europe.