moroccan club wydad athletics appeal against their forfeiting of the second leg of the 2019 african champions league final which saw the trophy awarded to esperance of tunisia was dismissed by the court of arbitration for sport on fridaywydad had hoped to overturn the confederation of african football caf disciplinary boards ruling that handed the trophy to esperance after players from the moroccan club abandoned the game over a disputed refereeing decisionafter the first leg in morocco finished 11 esperance were leading 10 in their home fixture when walid el kartis header for wydad was disallowedthe situation was exacerbated by a nonfunctioning video assistant referee var system but the caf appeal board ruled that wydad had forfeited the match by walking off the pitch and cas sports highest court upheld that decisionthe cas panel found in particular that the wacs players decision not to resume play after the interruption of the final in the 59th minute of the game constituted an abandonment it said in a statementthe caf appeals board was correct in confirming the disciplinary boards decision to declare that the wac lost the return leg of the final by forfeit accordingly the cas panel dismissed the appeal