More than nine months after the Africa Cup of Nations 2025 final, the ownership of the trophy remains unresolved as Morocco and Senegal await the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) decision.

The dispute has taken on both sporting and legal dimensions, with the latest intervention coming from former Morocco international Mustapha Hadji, who has strongly defended the decision to award the title to the Atlas Lions.

Speaking to Arabic outlet Kooora, the 1998 African Footballer of the Year argued that Senegal’s temporary departure from the pitch should have led to a formal sanction.

“Morocco committed no offence, while the Senegalese players left the field. The law therefore says that Morocco has the right to take back the Africa Cup,” Hadji said.

He added: “We did not steal the trophy. We won it according to the regulations and the events that took place on the pitch.”

The comments are a direct response to the continuing view in Senegal that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) effectively took away a title that had been won in sporting terms.

Senegal beat Morocco 1-0 after extra time in Rabat on 18 January. However, the Senegal players briefly left the field after Morocco were awarded a penalty in stoppage time. The CAF appeals committee subsequently classified the incident as a forfeit and changed the result to a 3-0 victory for Morocco.

Hadji also criticised referee Jean-Jacques Ndala for allowing the match to restart.

“The referee made a serious mistake when he decided to continue the match after the Senegalese players had left the field,” he said.

The former Atlas Lions player questioned why the assistant referees, video assistant referee officials and CAF representatives had not done more to oversee the Congolese official’s decision.

Hadji believes the Senegalese side understands the circumstances surrounding the match.

“They know the regulations and are fully aware of what happened. They know that the referee took that decision to allow the match to finish without causing more serious problems,” he said.

Senegal’s position is that, because the final resumed and was played through to its conclusion, the result on the pitch should stand. The CAS must now rule on the conflict between the sanction for a temporary walk-off and the football principle known as “field of play”, under which decisions made during a match are generally treated as final.

Representatives of both federations and CAF attended a hearing in Lausanne on 8 October. The arbitration panel is now deliberating, with its decision expected towards the end of November.

Hadji said he would accept the judgment whatever the outcome, while hoping it would favour Morocco. He also called for the case not to continue indefinitely, arguing that it was damaging the image of African football.

However, his assertion that Morocco had “not stolen” the title, and that Senegal “knows” what really happened, has renewed the argument before the long-running dispute reaches its legal conclusion.