Faustino Varela Monteiro, Vice President of the Appeals Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), broke his silence and announced his opposition to the controversial decision issued by the committee to transfer the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations title from Senegal to Morocco, Goal reported.

Although the Senegalese national team won on the field 1–0 in the final played on January 18 in Rabat, the Appeals Committee issued a decision on March 17 declaring Morocco the winner 3–0.

The Appeals Committee’s decision came after the Royal Moroccan Football Federation filed an appeal against Senegal’s victory, due to the Lions of Teranga players temporarily leaving the field, based on Articles 82 and 84 of the tournament regulations.

For its part, the Senegalese Football Federation appealed the decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), and the final ruling is expected within the next few months.

A new report on the case revealed that the Vice President of the Appeals Committee voted against transferring the title.

According to Sport News Africa, the document explaining the reasoning behind the ruling showed that the Cape Verdean official was the only dissenting vote, 3 votes that supported overturning Senegal’s on-field win.

Faustino Monteiro said in statements to the Senegalese newspaper L’Observateur: “I am against the decision to strip Senegal of the title and crown Morocco.”

Monteiro believes that even if there was a potential breach of CAF regulations, specifically Articles 82 and 84, this did not prevent the match from being completed to the end; therefore, Senegal’s victory should remain valid and unchangeable.

He added: “The facts contained in the match officials’ reports are considered true and accurate until proven otherwise. In the event of a conflict, the referee’s report remains the highest reference on the field of play.”

Montero did not stop there; he noted that the likelihood of the Court of Arbitration for Sport intervening to reassess the match incidents seems extremely slim, which could mean a ruling in Senegal’s favor.

He explained: “CAS will not revisit a decision made on the field unless there is evidence of arbitrariness or bad faith, even if the decision later appears to have been wrong when reviewed.”