The AFCON final controversy continues

The AFCON 2025 Final on January 18th is not over. The scandal continues far away from the pitch.

Two months later, on March 17th, CAF strips the title from Senegal national football team, ruling that Senegal were “declared to have forfeited” the final, citing Articles 82 and 84 of the AFCON regulations.

But it doesn’t end there.

The Senegalese Football will appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, a process that would typically take a year to deliver a verdict.

And while we wait for a verdict, the question is simple: Has this happened before?

Here is the list.

Soccer

Juventus FC

• Titles stripped: 2004–05 and 2005–06 Serie A
• Why: The Calciopoli scandal (match-fixing involving referees).
• One title was vacated; the other reassigned to Inter Milan.

Olympique de Marseille

• Title stripped: 1992–93 French league title
• Why: Match-fixing scandal.
• Notably, they kept their UEFA Champions League title from that same season.

College sports (USA) — the most prolific category

The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) has stripped titles so frequently it's practically an institution of its own.

Some highlights:

USC football (2004 BCS national title)

The BCS stripped the USC Trojans football of the 2004 BCS title and declared there would be no winner.
The cause was Reggie Bush accepting improper benefits.

Louisville basketball (2013 NCAA title)

Louisville Cardinals men's basketball became the first Division I basketball program of either sex forced to vacate a national title, stemming from a sex scandal involving staff members arranging entertainment for players and recruits.

Michigan basketball (Fab Five era)

Both runner-up finishes in 1992 and 1993 were vacated because of a wide-ranging improper-benefits scandal involving the Michigan Wolverines men's basketball program.

Syracuse lacrosse (1990)

The NCAA vacated Syracuse's victory when they determined that star player Paul Gait was ineligible due to having a car loan co-signed by the coach's wife while playing for Syracuse Orange men's lacrosse.

UMass women’s tennis (2017)

In October 2020, the NCAA stripped the 2017 Atlantic 10 Conference championship from the UMass Minutewomen tennis team over the improper reimbursement of a $252 phone bill, leading to public outcry.

Cycling

Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong lost seven victories in the Tour de France from 1999 to 2005.

• Why: Doping
• Outcome: Titles vacated; no winners officially declared for those years.

Besides Lance, both Floyd Landis (2006) and Alberto Contador (2010, 2011) were also stripped for doping.

Olympics / Athletics

Multiple relay teams and individuals have lost gold medals due to doping violations.

Example:

• United States 4×100m relay team
• Lost gold after doping violations by teammates.

Rugby League

Melbourne Storm

Melbourne Storm

• Titles stripped: 2007 and 2009 National Rugby League Premierships
• Why: Salary cap breaches
• Also lost minor premierships and points.

Boxing — Muhammad Ali

In 1967, then-undefeated world champion Muhammad Ali was stripped of his title and denied a boxing license for three years over his refusal to be drafted into the U.S. army.

This makes it the most politically charged stripping in sports history, with many arguing it was a profound injustice.

When trophies disappear but memories remain

Sport has a long and inglorious tradition of handing out trophies with one hand and snatching them back with the other.

The cruel irony is that the records are scrubbed clean while the memories never are.

Nobody forgot that Armstrong climbed those mountains, that Marseille lifted that Champions League trophy, or that Sadio Mané talked his teammates back onto the pitch and won anyway.

Perhaps the most honest conclusion is this: the bureaucrats control the paperwork, but they have never once controlled the story.

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