PREVIEW-Soccer-CAS to hear Senegal appeal over stripped African Cup of Nations title

‌The ​long-running saga over the winner of this year’s Africa Cup of Nations title will move closer to resolution on Thursday when Senegal’s appeal after being stripped of the title is heard by the Court of Arbitration in ‌Sport in Lausanne.

Senegal are contesting the Confederation of African Football's decision to declare Morocco champions, despite Senegal beating the hosts 1-0 after extra time in January's final in Rabat. Senegal walked off the pitch for 14 minutes after a penalty was awarded against them late in regulation time, with several players returning to ‌the dressing room in protest before they resumed play.

Morocco failed to convert the spot kick, sending the match into extra time, where Senegal scored ‌the winner to secure victory. However, they were stripped of the title two months later after CAF's Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match by walking off the pitch, overturning the result and awarding a 3-0 victory to Morocco.

Senegal quickly followed with an appeal to CAS, which was lodged on 25 March but is only being heard on Thursday. Senegal want ⁠to be ​reinstated as winners and a panel will ⁠listen to arguments from Senegal, Morocco and CAF. “After the hearing, the panel will start its deliberations. At this stage, CAS cannot state when a final decision will be rendered but ⁠it will not be on the date of the hearing,” CAS said in a statement.

THREE-MAN PANEL TO HEAR ARGUMENTS The panel will be presided over by French civil rights expert ​Professor Gerald Simon with assistance from Italian international law professor Luigi Fumagalli and Hamburg-based attorney and professor at law at the University of ⁠Zurich Ulrich Haas (Germany).

They are likely to hear arguments from Senegal that the Laws of the Game determine the referee's decisions on incidents of play are final and cannot be challenged after ⁠the ​fact. Also important is interpretation of the articles of the tournament regulations on which CAF’s Appeals Board ruled in Morocco’s favour, which state that “if, for any reason whatsoever, a team refuses to play or leaves the ground before the regular end of the match without the authorisation of the referee, it ⁠shall be considered the loser and shall be eliminated for good from the current competition”.

Senegal’s lawyers are expected to argue that the articles must ⁠be interpreted strictly and that a temporary ⁠departure from the field cannot be equated with abandoning the match, while Morocco are expected to argue for an opposing interpretation, according to which a team that leaves the field without the referee's authorisation must be considered the ‌loser and definitively eliminated ‌from the competition, even if its departure was not permanent. The hearing takes place ​behind closed doors.

(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)