Senegal coach: We are still African champions

Pape Thiaw, coach of the Senegal national team, said in a strange statement that his team still considers itself the champion of Africa, despite the decision of the Confederation of African Football to withdraw the 2025 African Cup of Nations title and give it to the Moroccan national team, considering that the “Lions of Teranga” team has withdrawn.

Thiaw said in a press conference today that he initially preferred not to answer a question regarding the impact of withdrawing the title, stressing that his focus is on working on the field and not being distracted, adding that his team knows very well that it is the African champion due to what it presented on the field.

He added that the Senegalese team will continue to work to achieve other titles in the future, highlighting that championships are decided within the green rectangle, which he considers to have already been achieved for his team, as he put it.

For his part, Idrissa Gueye, captain of Senegal, stressed that the feelings experienced by the players during the competition cannot be compensated, pointing out that reaching four finals in the last four editions reflects great and continuous work by an entire country.

It is worth noting that the Court of Arbitration for Sport had accepted the appeal of the Senegalese Football Federation against the CAF decision to award the championship title to the Moroccan national team, pending the final decision on this file.

The Lawyers Club in Morocco had threatened to resort to the judiciary if the Senegalese national team displayed a model of the African Cup of Nations during the upcoming friendly match against the Peru national team, tomorrow, at the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, after the Senegalese Federation confirmed its intention to organize a celebration of the cup despite the final decision issued by the Appeals Committee of the Confederation of African Football on March 17, which ruled that the Moroccan national team be considered the winning party in the “CAN” final by 3-0.

Murad Al-Ajoouti, President of the Lawyers Club in Morocco, revealed through a series of blog posts published on his official account in “X” that two official warnings had been sent to the company exploiting the Stade de France, and to a group specialized in organizing demonstrations, holding both parties directly responsible if they proceed with organizing this event.