The can 2025 final: Sénégal and Morocco’s ongoing dispute reignited

Almost three months following the initial event, the final match of the CAN 2025 tournament continues to generate significant controversy. On January 18th in Rabat, Sénégal initially secured a 1-0 victory after extra time on the pitch. However, on March 17th, the Confédération africaine de football (CAF) controversially reversed this outcome, awarding Morocco a 3-0 win by forfeit.

To justify this decision, the appeals jury referenced articles 82 and 84 of the regulations, which state that a team leaving the field or refusing to resume play is automatically declared the loser. This interpretation has been strongly contested by the Fédération sénégalaise, which has since appealed to the Tribunal arbitral du sport (TAS) in an effort to overturn the verdict.

While awaiting the TAS’s ruling, Edouard Mendy has broken his silence to advocate for the position of the Lions de la Teranga. During an appearance on the Saudi podcast Mo Show Prod, the Al-Hilal goalkeeper presented an account of events that contradicts Moroccan allegations of a collective abandonment of the match.

Mendy, who emerged as a hero in the final after saving Brahim Diaz’s penalty, emphasized a crucial detail. “People claimed we all left the pitch during the final, but that’s incorrect. There were still players on the field. It’s very important to highlight this,” he asserted.

edouard mendy defends Sénégal’s stance

Building on his point, he cited the report from referee Jean-Jacques Ndala to support his narrative: “And that’s precisely why the referee did not signal the end of the match. His report noted that the game paused briefly, but not that the team abandoned it, because players remained on the field.”

According to the former Chelsea goalkeeper, the game did indeed resume, which would invalidate any claim of a forfeit: “The match briefly stopped and then restarted, so from that point, there’s no need to discuss what happened because the game continued until its conclusion. If the entire team had been absent, we wouldn’t be having this conversation today. But that wasn’t the case.”

Nevertheless, this account doesn’t entirely resolve all ambiguities. According to Afrik Foot, the official match report, corroborated by video evidence, indicates that nearly the entire team, with the sole exception of Sadio Mané, did indeed leave the pitch for several minutes, including Edouard Mendy himself, who was reportedly among the first to head to the changing rooms. The battle of differing accounts persists as the football world eagerly anticipates the final verdict from the TAS.