- CAF President Patrice Motsepe has spoken after the body stripped Senegal of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title
- The African football governing body on Tuesday that the Atlas Lions of Morocco are now the winner of AFCON 2025
- Morocco appealed CAF’s initial judgement on the incidents during the AFCON final and the body ruled in their favour
Patrice Motsepe, the President of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has spoken after the body stripped Senegal of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title.
CAF announced that it had stripped Senegal of the title on Tuesday, March 17, 2025 after reviewing the judgement into the incidents during the final in January.
Source: Getty Images
The decision sparked massive reactions among African football fans and dignitaries and prompted a reaction from CAF President Patrice Motsepe.
Motsepe reacts to CAF’s ruling
President Patrice Motsepe has addressed the African football community in a video message posted on CAF’s YouTube page after CAF stripped Morocco of AFCON 2025 title.
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Motsepe points to root of the problem
“I’ve been informed of the ruling by the CAF Appeal Board concerning the appeal by Morocco relating to the AFCON Morocco 2025 final match,” he said.
“I previously expressed my extreme disappointment with the incidents that took place at the final match. The important thing about the incident is that it undermines the good work that CAF has done over many years to ensure that its integrity, respect, ethics, governance as well as credibility of our football matches.
“The occurrences expose the work that we are still dealing with concerning the suspicion, trust and legacy issue.”
“When I became president, the major concern was the impartiality, independence and the respect of referees and match commissioners. A lot of good good work has been done, but there’s continuous suspicion because it’s a legacy issue. It’s something that has been there for many years.
“We consistently deal with it because it is critically important. Another incident that these final matches brought to the fore was the independence and respect of our judicial bodies.”
Motsepe confirms selection process in CAF
“In choosing the members of our judicial bodies, we followed a different path from what had been the case before,” he continued.
“We invited each member association and each zone, the six regional areas in CAF to give us names of respected judges and respected lawyers because it is important that the decision of our disciplinary board and appeal board is viewed with respect and integrity.
“If you look at the composition of those bodies, it reflects some of the most respected lawyers and judges on the continent, but we’d still have to deal with the perception and the concerns about the integrity, it’s an ongoing issue.”
Motsepe applauds independence of bodies.
“We are very clear at CAF that we are enormously committed to ensure that not only in terms of what we do because we’ve implemented the best practices, we’ve identified judges and lawyers from every region, from every zone, from the 54 countries in Africa to make sure that these are people who have integrity and a track record,” the South African billionaire buttressed.
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“Partly, the independence is reflected by the decisions that were taken by the two bodies; the disciplinary body took one decision, the appeal board took a totally different position.”
Motsepe promises adherence to CAS ruling
“I’m told that the Senegalese are gonna appeal, which is very important. Every one of the 54 nations in Africa have the right to pursue their appeals and their advance interest, not only at the highest level in Africa, in CAF, but also the highest body, which is CAS, and we’d respect and adhere to the decision at the highest level,” he promised.
Motsepe denies favouritism
Motsepe hit back at claims that CAF is favouring Morocco with their decisions because of availability of facilities to host tournaments.
Source: Getty Images
“A critical factor is that not a single country in Africa would be treated in a manner that is more preferential, advantageous, or favourable than any other country on the African continent,” he added.
“We take what has happened in the final match in Morocco during the AFCON 2025 very seriously and we have already started with very important steps to make sure that those areas which have been identified as deficiencies and where there is a need for improvement, that the necessary resolutions are passed.”
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Motsepe promises high standards
“We have very high standards for ourselves, it is important for us that ordinary football supporters and spectators and everyone of the 54 countries in Africa in their judgement, not in CAF’s judgement, not in my [Motsepe’s] judgement regard the decisions of our judicial bodies as fair, with integrity and impartiality, and what is equally important that they regard our referees, our VAR operators and our match commissioners as people who are fair and just, and those decisions which are taken reflect the impartiality and that’s critically important,” he concluded.
Senegal releases statement after CAF’s ruling
Legit.ng reported that Senegal published a statement after CAF stripped the Teranga Lions of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title two months after winning it.
The Senegalese Football Federation (FSF) rejects the ruling and will head to the Court of Arbitration for Sports (CAS) to challenge the judgement.
Source: Legit.ng