CAF’s submission to Morocco has become pathetic

The decision of the Confederation of African Football, to declare Morocco the winner of the 2025 African Cup of Nations at the expense of Senegal, constituted a new chapter in the decline of the Makhzen football body.

CAF, headed by South African Patrice Motsepe, blatantly violated the regulations of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) Council, by exceeding the authority of the referees of the final confrontation, led by Congolese Jean-Jacques Ndala.

The CAF Appeals Committee, which surprisingly decided on the events of the final match three months later, focused on: On Articles 82 and 84 to strip the Teranga Lions of a title that Sadio Mane’s teammates deservedly won on the green rectangle.

In turn, the Senegalese Federation, led by Abdoulaye Fall, confirmed that it had written to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in order to appeal the unfair decision.

The Senegalese demanded that CAF temporarily suspend the decision of the Appeals Committee.

“Kaf” is a hostage of the gang

Those who follow African football affairs strangely wonder about the way the continental football federation is being managed during the Motsepe era.

At a time, union members’ voices rose loudly to make radical changes in accordance with the official regulations. The powerful lobby or the executive office gang emerged to dare the truth and speak out falsehood.

CAF’s submissiveness to the Moroccan Federation, under the administration of Motsepe’s first deputy, Fawzi Lekjaa, was evident in its violation of the powers of the General Secretariat. How could it not? The African Union is vacant of the position of Secretary-General in light of the lack of clarity regarding the future of Congolese Veron Mosengo Omba.

Mosengo is over the legal age to hold a position of responsibility in the African Union, yet he clings to his duties with the support of the President of the International Federation of Association Football, the Swiss Gianni Infantino.

Another point that harmed the reputation of “CAF” due to the manipulations of the executive office gang, is the arbitration committee headed by Olivier Savary, which exposed the corruption of the last African Cup of Nations.

What about the Women’s Africa Cup?

The Makhzen system refused to host the Women’s African Cup, which was previously scheduled between March 17 and April 3, 2026.

Despite this, Motsepe did not give up his pride to announce that the competition date had been fixed after the executive office meeting in Tanzania, last month.

CAF later fell into embarrassment, but it did not rush to take punitive measures to withdraw the organization from Morocco. Rather, it announced the postponement of the tournament date until the end of next July, without the slightest respect for the participating national federations, including Algeria.

The situation is interpreted sarcastically by saying that Morocco was the one that punished CAF, and not the other way around, because it withdrew at the last minute, putting the officials in front of a fait accompli, in sympathy with what happened in the men’s African Cup of Nations final.