Senegal parade AFCON trophy despite being stripped of 2025 title

Senegal paraded the Africa Cup of Nations trophy before Saturday’s friendly match against Peru national football team at the Stade de France—despite being stripped of the title earlier this month. Morocco national football team were declared winners of the 2025 Afcon tournament after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) overturned the result of January’s final. Senegal’s players reportedly left the field in protest when, with the score at 0-0, hosts Morocco were awarded a stoppage-time penalty, according to theBBC.

When they returned after a 17-minute delay, Morocco failed to convert the spot-kick, and Senegal went on to score an extra-time winner. Following an appeal by the Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), CAF later ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match, awarding Morocco a 3-0 victory. Senegal have since lodged an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), which has said it will rule on the matter “as swiftly as possible.” Before Saturday’s match against Peru, captain Kalidou Koulibaly and his team-mates entered the pitch with the Afcon trophy for a lap of honour.

Koulibaly and goalkeeper Edouard Mendy later carried the trophy to the stadium’s presidential box and placed it there. The friendly in Paris is Senegal’s first outing since the Afcon final and forms part of their preparations for the FIFA World Cup, which begins in June. Senegal have been drawn in the same group as France national football team, Norway national football team and either Bolivia national football team or Iraq national football team. This material, and other digital content on this website, may not be reproduced, published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed in whole or in part without prior express permission from ZAMBIA MONITOR.