{"id":567019,"date":"2026-03-28T17:50:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/567019\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T17:50:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T17:50:08","slug":"senegal-parade-afcon-trophy-at-stade-de-france-in-defiance-at-being-stripped-of-title-senegal-football-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/567019\/","title":{"rendered":"Senegal parade Afcon trophy at Stade de France in defiance at being stripped of title | Senegal football team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Senegal, who won the Africa Cup of Nations title in a controversial final against Morocco in January only to be stripped of their victory<\/a> this month, paraded the trophy before a friendly on Saturday against Peru at the Stade de France in Paris.<\/p>\n

Kalidou Coulibaly, the Senegal captain, and his teammates came out on to the pitch with the Afcon trophy for a lap of honour after a pre-match concert by the Senegalese singer Youssou N\u2019Dour.<\/p>\n

Senegal have launched a legal battle against the decision to strip them of the trophy and award it to Morocco, though the new champions regard the case as closed. Although the Atlas Lions lost 1-0 in the January final, the appeal board of the Confederation of African Football (Caf) awarded them a 3-0 victory on 17 March because Senegal staged a 14-minute walk-off during January\u2019s final in Rabat in protest against the award of a penalty to the hosts in added time immediately after Senegal had had a goal ruled out.<\/p>\n

The Senegal head coach, Pape Thiaw, said there was no doubt his side were African champions despite having the title taken away and that tournaments should be won on the pitch. In a first comment since the Caf appeal board awarded Morocco the Afcon title, Thiaw said on Friday: \u201cWe know we\u2019re African champions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Senegal\u2019s head coach, Pape Thiaw, says: \u2018We\u2019re going to keep working to win more trophies. It\u2019s clear in our minds that competitions and trophies are won on the pitch.\u2019 Photograph: Julien de Rosa\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

Thiaw said he wanted his side to keep focus on football and avoid the controversy surrounding the decision by African football\u2019s governing body. Senegal this week lodged an appeal with the Swiss-based court of arbitration for sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe most important thing is not to get distracted,\u201d added Thiaw, who was at the heart of the controversial walk-off and heavily punished for his actions. He will be allowed to take Senegal to the World Cup in June and Saturday\u2019s warmup game is followed by another friendly against neighbouring the Gambia in Dakar on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know we\u2019re African champions. We\u2019re going to keep working to win more trophies. It\u2019s clear in our minds that competitions and trophies are won on the pitch. We\u2019ve done that; we\u2019re African champions,\u201d Thiaw said.<\/p>\n

Morocco, meanwhile, drew 1-1 against Ecuador on Friday in a friendly in Madrid, in their first match since the final and the controversial decision to punish Senegal. It was Mohamed Ouahbi\u2019s first game at the helm, just three months out from the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n

After becoming the first African side to reach the final four in Qatar in 2022, expectations are high for Morocco and they are looking to the future, despite Senegal\u2019s outrage.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re focused on what\u2019s to come and not getting into that [topic],\u201d the Morocco goalkeeper Yassine Bounou said. \u201cThe answer from us [about whether the decision was fair] would be what our federation said and that\u2019s all \u2026 we\u2019re looking forwards.\u201d<\/p>\n

Before being awarded victory against Senegal, Morocco had won the Afcon only once, in 1976. Like the players, Moroccan media was more concerned with this summer\u2019s World Cup and Ouahbi\u2019s tactical approach than whether Senegal are right to feel aggrieved.<\/p>\n

Morocco\u2019s Achraf Hakimi, Azzedine Ounahi and Chemsdine Talbi applaud fans after facing Ecuador in Madrid. Photograph: Violeta Santos Moura\/Reuters<\/p>\n

Ecuador\u2019s coach, Sebastian Beccacece, said he was satisfied with a draw against the \u201cAfrican champions\u201d. Ouahbi\u2019s team are now technically unbeaten in 25 matches, despite falling on a dramatic night in Rabat against Senegal in the Afcon final.<\/p>\n

They lacked precision in attack against Ecuador but Ouahbi, who led Moroccan youngsters to Under-20 World Cup glory last year, highlighted the strength of his team. \u201cI don\u2019t talk in terms of weaknesses. They\u2019re not weaknesses. We are a top-level team \u2013 the Ecuadorian coach reminded us of that,\u201d Ouhabi said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you are a top-level team, ranked eighth in the world and World Cup semi-finalists, you don\u2019t have weaknesses. You only have strengths, and then any qualities we\u2019re missing, areas where we\u2019re not performing, we have to make up for collectively.\u201d<\/p>\n

Morocco will face Brazil in their first game at the tournament this summer on 13 June, one of the most intriguing matchups of the group phase. Before then the Moroccan federation\u2019s lawyers may have to defend their status as African champions against Senegal\u2019s case, but Ouahbi and his players are only looking forwards to the summer, when they have a chance to win another trophy, this time on the pitch.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Senegal, who won the Africa Cup of Nations title in a controversial final against Morocco in January only…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":567020,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[440],"tags":[49,48,561,82],"class_list":["post-567019","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-soccer","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-soccer","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567019","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=567019"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/567019\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/567020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=567019"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=567019"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=567019"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}