The Court of Arbitration for Sport is likely to restore Senegal as Africa Cup of Nations champions after the Confederation of African Football’s Appeal Board stripped them of the title, according to veteran sports lawyer and CAS arbitrator Raymond Hack.

CAF’s Appeal Board overturned Senegal’s 1-0 extra-time victory over Morocco, ruling that the Teranga Lions’ temporary walk-off in protest at refereeing decisions amounted to a forfeit. Senegal had left the pitch before Sadio Mané persuaded his teammates to return, after which the referee, Jean-Jacques Ndala, allowed the match to continue and Pape Gueye scored the decisive goal.

Hack argued that Morocco’s failure to lodge a formal protest before the end of the game, combined with the referee’s decision to let play resume, fatally undermines CAF’s case.

“The referee is the final decision on the game and when he blows the whistle for the end of the game, that’s when the game ends,” Hack said. “Yes, the team did go off, but they did come back on – and so did Morocco. When Morocco came on, nobody said they were playing extra time under protest. They played the 30 minutes.”

Hack believes CAS will lean on its own precedent from the 2019 CAF Champions League final, when Wydad Casablanca walked off over a disallowed goal and VAR malfunction. In that case, CAS rejected CAF’s attempt to order a replay and upheld the principle that only the referee can decide when a match ends.

He also criticised CAF’s legal reasoning, saying the Appeal Board misapplied article 84 of the AFCON regulations in awarding Morocco a 3-0 win. Article 84 provides for elimination when a team contravenes both articles 82 and 83. Senegal, Hack said, could arguably be judged to have breached article 82 by leaving the field, but they clearly did not violate article 83, which concerns teams failing to appear for kick-off.

“It says both of them, and they certainly never contravened the provisions of article 83. In my opinion, I don’t think that Morocco will be declared the winners,” he said.

Until CAS delivers its ruling, Senegal will keep their medals and prize money. Hack expects the process to take several months and warned that the saga further damages the credibility of African football governance at a time when CAF is under intense scrutiny.