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Senegal midfielder Idrissa Gueye has vehemently dismissed the decision to overturn his nation’s Africa Cup of Nations victory as “ridiculous,” asserting that it was their “destiny” to be crowned champions.

The Confederation of African Football (Caf) appeal board controversially awarded the title to Morocco last week, cancelling Senegal’s 1-0 win and imposing a 3-0 defeat.

This ruling came after Senegal briefly left the field in protest of a disputed penalty awarded to their opponents in stoppage time, which Caf deemed a forfeiture of the match.

“I think this decision is just ridiculous. We won the game on the pitch not in offices and as a Senegalese player I’m just proud of what we did,” the Everton midfielder stated.

Gueye said it was Senegal’s ‘destiny’ to be champions (Copyright 2025 The Associated Press. All rights reserved)

“We deserve this trophy. We fight on the pitch and everyone knows what happened and I think if you play 10 times this game we would win it 10 times.”

Gueye continued: “Not because we are better than Morocco but because it was our destiny because we gave everything on the pitch and we deserve to be champions.

“We really don’t care about medals, about trophies, because the most important thing is on the pitch and not what you write on the paper. On the pitch we won it and no-one can change this.”

He further criticised the decision-makers, suggesting they “are maybe against Africa”, adding, “Africa doesn’t need this type of decision because everyone has started to talk about Afcon and compare it against Europe and the Copa America. I think Africa doesn’t deserve this.”

Despite the contentious ruling, Gueye insisted there was no animosity between the two nations, citing his amicable relationship with Everton teammate and Morocco international Adam Aznou.

“We just laugh about this because sometimes it’s funny,” he explained. “We are all brothers and no-one can push me to hate Morocco’s people. Morocco and Senegal have a good relationship.”