The recent actions of the Senegalese national football team feel like they are taking a direct jab at CAF and FIFA following the AFCON ruling.
By now, it’s no longer news that CAF (Confederation of African Football) annulled the results of the 2025 AFCON final and awarded the trophy to Morocco following the decision of the CAF appeal board.
In light of that decision, CAF has asked Senegal to return the trophy and medals which the Senegalese players have refused. Some of the members of the Senegal national team even went ahead to post messages on their social media platforms indicating that they would defy the order.
📲 Sadio Mané via instagram.
‘That feeling you can’t imagine’
As Senegal show off their AFCON trophy!🇸🇳🔴 pic.twitter.com/JvFe3zN7vI
— Anfield Agenda (@AnfieldAgenda) March 28, 2026
The Senegal Football Federation has also filed an appeal to the Court or Arbitration for Sports (CAS) on the ruling and many football pundits and journalists believe they can genuinely win the case.
🚨 OFFICIAL: CAS confirms Senegalese Football Federation has appealed the decision to call Morocco as winners of the AFCON 2025, asking to restore Senegal as the original winners.
Appeal registered by CAS on 25 March 2026 “to set aside the CAF decision and declares the FSF… pic.twitter.com/iQqLBqVdFE
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) March 25, 2026
But away from that, Senegal have gone on a campaign that is sending an indirect message to CAF and largely FIFA that they don’t respect the decision.
To start with, the Senegalese government has openly accused CAF of being corrupt and even asked for an investigation into the practices going on within the governing body of African football.
Le Président de la République affirme que le Sénégal constate avec regret et indignation la décision du Jury d’Appel de la CAF retirant le titre de Champion d’Afrique 2025 à l’équipe nationale de Football. ➡️ https://t.co/b2AhU4EIkC pic.twitter.com/GF80N3xeDL
— Présidence Sénégal (@PR_Senegal) March 18, 2026
To add to this, Senegal have bluntly refused to return the trophy and have since been putting it on display at every given opportunity.
The AFCON trophy was pictured in the Senegalese President’s cabinet on a social media post and the AFCON winning coach, Pape Thiaw has since taken it to the military base as the country continues to celebrate.
Pulling FIFA into the discourse, Senegal were instructed to not add a second star to their trophy by FIFA as they have been dethroned as 2025 AFCON winners, meaning they have only one AFCON trophy and hence one star.
Senegal have also refused this instruction by adding a second star as seen in their friendly against Peru and they also paraded the trophy in front of their supporters.
Senegal add a second star to their badge 🇸🇳⭐️⭐️
🎥 @Fsfofficielle #internationalfootball pic.twitter.com/871alquhtZ
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) March 27, 2026
It feels like they are telling both governing bodies “if you want the trophy so bad, come get it.” Honestly, fans are loving it and this writer too. The ruling to award Morocco the AFCON trophy after Diaz missed that penalty and the match by full time feels very odd.
For now, Senegal may keep up this campaign till they get a ruling from CAS which will take about 9 months and it is interesting to see if and how CAF or FIFA would respond to this not-so-subtle message from the Senegalese national football team.
