Court of Arbitration for Sport Rejects Al Ahly’s Appeal, CAF Champions League Final Will Remain in Morocco

Court of Arbitration for Sport Rejects Al Ahly’s Appeal, CAF Champions League Final Will Remain in Morocco

Byron Pillay
updated at April 12, 2023 at 8:03 PM
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  • Ah Aly will be looking to defend their CAF Champions League title when they take on Wydad Casablanca in the final
  • The final of the CAF Champions League will be held in Morocco on Monday at Wydad Casablanca's home ground
  • Al Ahly appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to have the final postponed and the venue changed from Morocco

Al Ahly will have no choice but to contest the CAF Champions League final in Morocco on Monday.

The Egyptian side were hoping to have the final against Wydad Casablanca postponed and the venue moved after they appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

Court of Arbitration for Sport, Rejects, Al Ahly, Appeal, CAF Champions League, Final, Remain, Morocco, Soccer, Sport, Football, South Africa, Wydad Casablanca
Al Ahly will have to contest the CAF Champions League final in Morocco on Monday after the Court of Arbitration for Sport rejected their appeal. Image: @AlAhlyEnglish
Source: Twitter

Sadly for the Egyptian giants, CAS ruled in favour of African football’s governing body, IOL reported.

"The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) today ruled in favour of CAF and rejected Al Ahly’s application to postpone the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League final," a statement read.

Al Ahly took the matter to the court after they felt that CAF were unjust in allowing Morocco to host the final, despite the fact that a Moroccan team are in the final.

The Egyptian side appealed to CAF itself at first, asking that in the interest of fairness, the venue be moved. Numerous fans of the club also accused CAF of being corrupt and took to social media to put pressure on the organisation to reverse its decision.

The hashtag #CAFStinks soon started trending worldwide followed by #StopCAFCorruption.

CAF President Patrice Motsepe was also a target of the posts by angry supporters.

Al Ahly will now face Wydad Casablanca in Monday’s final. The last time the two sides met in the final was in 2017 when the Moroccan side won the two-legged tie on aggregate, Soccer Laduma reported.

Al Ahly issues strong demands to CAF and wants European referees in the Champions League finals against Wydad

Egyptian giants Al Ahly have made six strong demands ahead of their Champions League final game against Moroccan side Wydad Casablanca.

This season's CAF Champions League finals has courted a lot of controversy following CAF's decision to host the finals in Morocco.

The unpopular decision has led to intense scrutiny with Al Ahly registering their displeasure by heading to the Court of Arbitration for Sport and also making urgent demands to be put in place to ensure equity in the grand finale.

Al Ahly heads to the Court of Arbitration for Sports over Champions League final controversy

Earlier, Sports Brief reported that Al Ahly are not taking the Confederation of African Football’s (CAF) decision lying down.

The Egyptian giants have decided to take the organisation to the highest sporting court in the world as they seek to get the final of the CAF Champions League moved to a new venue.

iDiskiTimes confirmed that the reigning champions will take the matter to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Switzerland, the highest court available to deal with sporting matters.

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Byron Pillay
Byron Pillay is a sports writer and Head of the Department at Sports Brief (joined in 2022) with over 10 years of experience in community journalism and a degree in journalism from Caxton's Cadet School.
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