{"id":27420,"date":"2026-01-22T08:31:17","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:31:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/?p=27420"},"modified":"2026-01-22T08:31:20","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T07:31:20","slug":"viral-claim-caf-suspends-senegals-coach-thiaw-false","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/viral-claim-caf-suspends-senegals-coach-thiaw-false\/","title":{"rendered":"Viral claim CAF suspends Senegal\u2019s coach, Thiaw, false"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Claim: A Facebook user claims<\/a> CAF has suspended the Senegalese head coach.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

Verdict: False. No reputable news outlet has reported the alleged suspension of Pape. The FIFA president, Infantino, has only condemned the Senegalese team’s walk-off during their match against Morocco in the AFCON final. Meanwhile, CAF has disclosed that it would study the footage of the incident and refer the matter to the disciplinary bodies for further action.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Text<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a chaotic<\/a> African Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, in which Senegal\u2019s head coach, Pape Thiaw, ordered his players to leave the pitch during play, many football fans and viewers have widely deemed the incident controversial. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thiaw\u2019s rather erratic behaviour came<\/a> after the Congolese umpire, Jean-Jacques Ndala, had awarded a penalty in favour of Morocco, after Brahim Diaz had been pulled down to the ground by Senegal\u2019s full-back El Hadiji Diouf while defending a corner some minutes into stoppage time. However, 14 minutes later, Senegal returned to the pitch, and Edouard Mendy palmed Diaz\u2019s weak panenka to deny the hosts of being hopeful champions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Following that development, a Facebook user, Mr Activist<\/a>, claims that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has suspended Thiaw for walking off the pitch with his players during play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cConfederation of African Football (CAF) suspended the Senegalese head coach because of his actions against Morocco final,\u201d the Facebook user said via a video.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Similar claims were made here<\/a>, here<\/a>, here<\/a>, and here<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, the post has generated 17 likes, four comments, and six shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Due to the sensitivity of the claim and to curb disinformation, DUBAWA decided to verify the claim.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Verification<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

DUBAWA conducted a keyword search regarding the claim to see if any credible news outlet had reported it, but none have.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Punch<\/a> newspaper reports that Morocco has sought the intervention of CAF and the  F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) by deciding to pursue legal action against the Senegal national team. However, the news outlet further reported that FIFA president Gianni Infantino has criticised the conduct, while CAF has disclosed it would review the incident and refer the matter to disciplinary bodies for action against those involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CAF<\/a>, via a statement, disclosed that it \u201ccondemns\u201d the behaviour of some players and officials during the AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco. It further stated that the confederation is \u201creviewing\u201d all footage and will \u201crefer\u201d the matter to competent bodies for appropriate action. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Reuters<\/a> reports that FIFA\u2019s boss, Gianni Infantino, has condemned the incident, describing it as \u201cunacceptable scenes\u201d and said such behaviour puts the essence of football at risk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, there was no mention by any of the governing parties concerned that a decision had been made to suspend Senegal\u2019s head coach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No reputable news outlet has reported the alleged suspension of Senegal\u2019s football coach. Meanwhile, CAF has only stated that it is reviewing the incident and would refer the matter to other disciplinary bodies. Therefore, the claim is false.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Claim: A Facebook user claims CAF has suspended the Senegalese head coach. Verdict: False. No reputable news outlet has reported the alleged suspension of Pape. The FIFA president, Infantino, has only condemned the Senegalese team’s walk-off during their match against Morocco in the AFCON final. Meanwhile, CAF has disclosed that it would study the footage of the incident and refer the matter to the disciplinary bodies for further action. Full Text In a chaotic African Cup of Nations (AFCON) final, in which Senegal\u2019s head coach, Pape Thiaw, ordered his players to leave the pitch during play, many football fans and viewers have widely deemed the incident controversial.  Thiaw\u2019s rather erratic behaviour came after the Congolese umpire, Jean-Jacques Ndala, had awarded a penalty in favour of Morocco, after Brahim Diaz had been pulled down to the ground by Senegal\u2019s full-back El Hadiji Diouf while defending a corner some minutes into stoppage time. However, 14 minutes later, Senegal returned to the pitch, and Edouard Mendy palmed Diaz\u2019s weak panenka to deny the hosts of being hopeful champions.  Following that development, a Facebook user, Mr Activist, claims that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has suspended Thiaw for walking off the pitch with his players during play. \u201cConfederation of African Football (CAF) suspended the Senegalese head coach because of his actions against Morocco final,\u201d the Facebook user said via a video. Similar claims were made here, here, here, and here.  As of Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, the post has generated 17 likes, four comments, and six shares. Due to the sensitivity of the claim and to curb disinformation, DUBAWA decided to verify the claim. Verification DUBAWA conducted a keyword search regarding the claim to see if any credible news outlet had reported it, but none have. Punch newspaper reports that Morocco has sought the intervention of CAF and the  F\u00e9d\u00e9ration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) by deciding to pursue legal action against the Senegal national team. However, the news outlet further reported that FIFA president Gianni Infantino has criticised the conduct, while CAF has disclosed it would review the incident and refer the matter to disciplinary bodies for action against those involved. CAF, via a statement, disclosed that it \u201ccondemns\u201d the behaviour of some players and officials during the AFCON final between Senegal and Morocco. It further stated that the confederation is \u201creviewing\u201d all footage and will \u201crefer\u201d the matter to competent bodies for appropriate action.  Meanwhile, Reuters reports that FIFA\u2019s boss, Gianni Infantino, has condemned the incident, describing it as \u201cunacceptable scenes\u201d and said such behaviour puts the essence of football at risk. However, there was no mention by any of the governing parties concerned that a decision had been made to suspend Senegal\u2019s head coach. Conclusion No reputable news outlet has reported the alleged suspension of Senegal\u2019s football coach. Meanwhile, CAF has only stated that it is reviewing the incident and would refer the matter to other disciplinary bodies. Therefore, the claim is false.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":27421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"hannibal_claim_source":"","hannibal_source_label":"","hannibal_card_color":"blue","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_wpscppro_dont_share_socialmedia":false,"_wpscppro_custom_social_share_image":0,"_facebook_share_type":"default","_twitter_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type":"default","_pinterest_share_type":"default","_linkedin_share_type_page":"","_instagram_share_type":"default","_medium_share_type":"default","_threads_share_type":"default","_google_business_share_type":"default","_bluesky_share_type":"","_mastodon_share_type":"","_selected_social_profile":[],"_wpsp_enable_custom_social_template":false,"_wpsp_social_scheduling":{"enabled":false,"datetime":null,"platforms":[],"status":"template_only","dateOption":"today","timeOption":"now","customDays":"","customHours":"","customDate":"","customTime":"","schedulingType":"absolute"},"_wpsp_active_default_template":true},"categories":[1571,3812,3815,3705],"tags":[],"verdict":[],"ppma_author":[3699],"class_list":["post-27420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fact-check","category-headline","category-homepage","category-sport-themes"],"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8R6dE-78g","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"authors":[{"term_id":3699,"user_id":0,"is_guest":1,"slug":"cole-praise","display_name":"Cole Praise","avatar_url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/7934b84f51e2c1f4c1e77cce93c223ac97cc2da29198aa9141fd944b0407bb2d?s=96&r=g","author_category":"","user_url":"","last_name":"","first_name":"","job_title":"","description":""}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/image-83.png?fit=891%2C620&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27420"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27420\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27422,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27420\/revisions\/27422"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27420"},{"taxonomy":"verdict","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/verdict?post=27420"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dubawa.org\/dir\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/ppma_author?post=27420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}