Claim: CAF has suspended Senegal Coach Pape Thiaw following AFCON final disruptions
Source: Social Media, news portals
Verdict: False
Researched by Samuel Nii Adjetey
Multiple social media users and news portals have claimed that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has suspended Senegal coach Pape Thiaw following the disruption that occurred during the 2025 African Cup of Nations (AFCON) final match between Morocco and Senegal on Sunday, January 18.
The claim comes in the wake of some disorderly scenes that emerged during the game when Thiaw was seen at one point ordering his players to leave the pitch after a controversial decision by the referee to award the hosts (Morocco) a penalty in stoppage time.
After a delay of several minutes, play resumed even as Morocco missed the penalty, forcing the game to end in a goalless draw in regulation time. The final proceeded into extra time before Senegal secured a 1-0 victory in the first half of extra time.
The claim that Thiaw had been suspended by CAF gained traction a day after the final and has been shared widely on Facebook and X. (See here, here, here, here, and here)
This fact-check will verify the claim.
Fact-check
FactSpace West Africa conducted a keyword search “Pape Thiaw suspended” on Google but found no official statement confirming that CAF has taken any action against the Senegalese gaffer. Instead we surfaced a series of news reports from Ghanaian (here, here) and Nigerian (here, here) portals reporting the said suspension.
The only official statement referring to the incidents during the final was released on Monday, January 19, 2026, where CAF condemned what it described as “unacceptable behaviour” of some players and officials during the 2025 AFCON final in Rabat.
“The Confédération Africaine de Football (“CAF”) condemns the unacceptable behaviour of some players and officials during the TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nations Morocco 2025 Final between Morocco and Senegal in Rabat last night.
“CAF strongly condemns any inappropriate behaviour which occurs during matches, especially those targeting the refereeing team or match organizers,” the statement said.
It added that; “CAF is reviewing all footage and will refer the matter to competent bodies for appropriate action to be taken against those found guilty.”
Fig. 3- A screengrab of the CAF statement on the incident
It is worth noting that the statement did not single out particular individuals in the statement except to disclose that processes were underway to “refer the matter to competent bodies for appropriate action to be taken against those found guilty.”
FactSpace West Africa speaks to source at CAF
While official correspondence to CAF via communications@cafonline.com and info@cafonline.com did not yield any response at the time of filing this report, a WhatsApp exchange with a source within CAF who emphasized that the trending story was False.
“No truth,” our source stated, adding: “Initial proceedings only started this morning but nothing has come out.”
Senegal returns home to hero’s welcome
Meanwhile, the Khalidou Koulibaly-led Teranga Lions team arrived back home in Dakar on Monday evening and were met on the tarmac by President Bassirou Diomaye Faye and Prime Minister Ousmane Sonko and a big government delegation.
Reports indicate that they would undertake a parade today through the streets of Dakar to celebrate with teeming supporters.
This is the second AFCON trophy the West African country has won, the first was in 2021 under the guidance of Aliou Cisse. Cisse, like Thiaw, was a former player for the national team.
Verdict:
The viral claim that the Senegalese manager has been suspended by CAF is False.
