They are calling for the annulment of sanctions meted against them.

True to their promise that they were going to sue CAF, the Moroccan football federation has deposited a complaint at the Court of Arbitration in Sports, CAS, over the decision by the latter to suspend the North African country from the next two editions of the Africa cup of Nations and a fine of one million dollars.

According to the appeal which was made at CAS on February 17, the Moroccan football federation is asking for the annulations of the sanctions and a final judgement to be rendered before the end of the month of March, 2015. The arbitration procedure has been launched already. CAF meted out the sanctions after Morocco desisted from hosting the 2015 AFCON due to fear of the spread of the deadly Ebola virus, causing the tournament to be moved to Equatorial Guinea barely 58 days to the kick off of the competition. The fine is to make up for the damages suffered by CAF because of the decision of Morocco to withdraw from hosting the tournament, thereby breaching the contract they signed with CAF.

The issue is beginning to take a different ramification. The world football governing body, FIFA, has taken sides with Morocco in the present standoff with CAF. FIFA president, Sepp Blatter has announced that no African country will take part in the 2018 edition of the World Cup and that the five African spots will be distributed to other confederations should the sanctions against Morocco be upheld. “Since CAF has decided to sacrifice a generation of Moroccan footballers, FIFA has also decided to sacrifice a generation of African footballers,” he is quoted to have said. Hopefully, CAF and FIFA should come to better sentiments and let football prevail.