{"id":95835,"date":"2026-04-11T11:40:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T11:40:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/uncategorized\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal"},"modified":"2026-04-11T12:12:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-11T12:12:05","slug":"caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal","title":{"rendered":"CAF President Demands AFCON Trophy Return from Senegal"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"color: #ff6600\"><strong>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. <\/strong><\/span><b>President of the Confederation of African Football, Dr Patrice Motsepe, has broken his silence following the controversial decision to strip Senegal of their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title, insisting that the move was guided strictly by regulations. Speaking on the matter, Dr Motsepe expressed the emotional weight of the decision, revealing his personal involvement during Senegal\u2019s triumph.<\/b><\/p>\n<p>He emphasised that once the Caf Appeals Board reaches a decision, he, as president of the Confederation of African Football, is obligated to enforce it, including reclaiming the trophy from the Senegal national football team.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI gave Sadio Mane\u0301 the gold medal, I gave Kalidou Krubally the medal, I gave Mane\u0301 the trophy, I gave him US$10 million, but I have to follow the laws. I have to respect the rules. A decision was made by the Caf Disciplinary Board, and I have to enforce it,\u201d Dr Motsepe said.<\/p>\n<p>Senegal, who had been crowned champions after an impressive tournament run, now face the reality of losing the prestigious continental title.<\/p>\n<p>Caf has yet to provide full details of the violations that led to the sanction, but officials maintain that due process was followed in reaching the verdict.<\/p>\n<p>For Motsepe, the situation underscores the responsibility of leadership at the highest level of African football where adherence to rules must take precedence over personal sentiments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>For More News And Analysis About <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Gambia<\/span> Follow <span style=\"color: #ff6600\">Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Africa-Press &#8211; Gambia. President of the Confederation of African Football, Dr Patrice Motsepe, has broken his silence following the controversial decision to strip Senegal of their 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) title, insisting that the move was guided strictly by regulations. Speaking on the matter, Dr Motsepe expressed the emotional weight of the decision, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":95834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,17],"tags":[260],"class_list":["post-95835","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-sport","tag-gambia"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.1 (Yoast SEO v27.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>CAF President Demands AFCON Trophy Return from Senegal - Gambia<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"President of the Confederation of African Football, Dr Patrice Motsepe, has broken his silence following the controve ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CAF President Demands AFCON Trophy Return from Senegal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"President of the Confederation of African Football, Dr Patrice Motsepe, has broken his silence following the controve ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Gambia\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AfricaPressTunisiaa\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-04-11T11:40:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-04-11T12:12:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1775896862.960801.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"977\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"550\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"CAF President Demands AFCON Trophy Return from Senegal\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-04-11T11:40:30+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-04-11T12:12:05+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal\"},\"wordCount\":242,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/gambia\/sites\/19\/2026\/04\/sm_1775896862.960801.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Gambia\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"sport\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/gambia\/all-news\/caf-president-demands-afcon-trophy-return-from-senegal\",\"name\":\"CAF President Demands AFCON Trophy Return from Senegal - 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