The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has pledged to resolve Senegal's appeal quickly after the team was stripped of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) title. A hearing was held on Thursday, and the body said a ruling will follow within days.
Senegal is contesting the decision by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to declare Morocco champion, despite Senegal beating the host nation 1-0 after extra time in the January final in Rabat.
In that match, Senegal left the pitch 14 minutes after conceding a penalty late in normal time. Several players retreated to the dressing room in protest before play resumed.
Morocco failed to convert the penalty, sending the match into extra time. There, Senegal scored the decisive goal to win.
Two months later, however, the team was stripped of the title after CAF's Appeal Board ruled that Senegal had forfeited the match by leaving the pitch, overturning the result and awarding Morocco a 3-0 victory.
Senegal immediately filed an appeal with CAS, sport's highest court, on March 25, but the case was not heard until Thursday.
"I know the fans have been waiting for a long time, several months after the final between Senegal and Morocco," CAS Director General Matthieu Reeb said.
"The schedule and the procedural progress were agreed by the parties involved in this case. So everyone was aware of the progress, and CAS's aim, as the final decision-maker, is to issue a reasoned ruling as soon as possible after today's hearing," he told reporters.
The protracted dispute over this year's Africa Cup of Nations champion will be settled within days, although Reeb gave no specific deadline.
"I think the decision will not come today, not tomorrow, but a few days from now. The facts have been established, clearly, and the discussions will focus on a number of procedural issues and legal aspects," he added.
The CAS panel, chaired by French sports law expert Gerald Simon and assisted by Italian international law professor Luigi Fumagalli and lawyer and University of Zurich law professor Ulrich Haas, heard the parties present their cases through their lawyers. The hearing concluded on Thursday.
The Moroccan delegation did not speak to the press. Senegalese Football Federation general secretary Abdoulaye Sow said they were confident.
"But the important thing is that sports law must be respected, and this particular match must be brought to a close, for dignity and for Africa," Sow told reporters outside the closed-door hearing.
