FIFA, IFAB Approve New Law After Senegal Left Pitch During AFCON 2025 Final
- FIFA and IFAB have approved a new football law after Senegal’s action during the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations
- The Teranga Lions of Senegal disrupted the AFCON 2025 final by leaving the pitch to protest the referee's decision
- CAF stripped Senegal of the AFCON title and awarded it to Morocco, and a case is ongoing at CAS in Lausanne
World football governing body, FIFA, and world football rule-makers, IFAB, have approved a new rule to deter teams from repeating Senegal’s action at the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final.
Senegal defeated Morocco 1-0 in the AFCON 2025 final after minutes of disruption, which came after the Teranga Lions left the pitch to protest a referee’s decision.
Source: Getty Images
Congolese referee Jean-Jacques Ndala disallowed Senegal’s goal before awarding a penalty to Morocco, prompting chaotic scenes.
Senegal's head coach, Pape Thiaw, told his players to leave the pitch to protest against Ndala’s decision, disrupting the match for about 17 minutes.
Sadio Mane intervened and ordered his teammates to return to the pitch and continue the match, which they obliged their highly revered captain.
Brahim Diaz missed the penalty, forcing the match into extra time. Villarreal midfielder Pape Gueye scored a brilliant goal minutes into the extra time to win it for Senegal.
Days later, CAF sanctioned Morocco and Senegal, but Morocco's Football Federation appealed, prompting a controversial ruling from the Appeal Board.
CAF stripped Senegal of the title and awarded Morocco a 3-0 walkover victory, but Senegal rejected and appealed at the Court of Arbitration for Sports.
FIFA approves law after Senegal saga
FIFA published a statement announcing that, in conjunction with IFAB, it has approved two new laws, which will take effect at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
The first is to prevent other teams from leaving the pitch to protest against the referee’s decision, similar to what Senegal did in the AFCON 2025 final.
“At the discretion of the competition organiser, the referee may sanction with a red card any player who leaves the field of play in protest at a referee's decision,” the statement reads.
“This new rule will also apply to any team official who incites players to leave the field of play. A team that causes a match to be abandoned will, in principle, forfeit the match.”
Had this rule been in place before AFCON 2025, all Senegalese players and Pape Thiaw would have been red-carded, and their team would have forfeited the match.
Source: Getty Images
The second rule is to curb players covering their mouths before speaking on the pitch, which they do to avoid their words being caught by the camera or lip sync experts.
Gianluca Prestianni was at the centre of a discriminatory row towards Vinicius Jr, during which he covered his mouth. As noted by BBC Sport, UEFA suspended him for six games, but subsequent offences by any player will attract a red card.
FIFA drops AFCON 2025 final referee
Legit.ng previously reported that FIFA dropped Jean-Jacques Ndala from officiating at the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada.
The Congolese who officiated the AFCON final and some other referees who oversaw controversial matches at the tournament were overlooked.
Proofreading by James Ojo, copy editor at Legit.ng.
Source: Legit.ng
