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Rabat – FIFA Council member Amaju Melvin Pinnick has strongly rebuked the anti-Morocco remarks made during the opening ceremony of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in Algeria on January 13.
In a statement on Monday, Pinnick spoke in rueful terms of the politicization of the opening ceremony and of Algeria’s decision to deprive the Moroccan national football team of its right to defend its CHAN title.
“As a member of the world football family and stakeholder in African football, I am concerned that Morocco, the defending champion of the African Nations Championship, CHAN, was hindered from participating in the 2023 edition of the tournament which is being held in Algeria,” Pinnick said.
Algerian authorities rejected earlier this month Morocco’s request to have its national team fly directly to the Algerian city of Constantine to participate in the continental tournament.
Pinnick also expressed concerns about the politicized speeches as well as the “xenophobic chants” made during the opening ceremony against Morocco.
Algeria’s regime had invited Nelson Mandela’s grandson, Zwelivelile Mandela, to deliver a Morocco-bashing speech that caused quite a stir on social media in the MENA and among observers of African football.
Mandela’s grandson challenged Morocco’s territorial integrity in his speech, describing Western Sahara as “the last colony of Africa.” He went on to urge his audience: “Let us fight to free Western Sahara from oppression.”
‘Football promotes unity’
Mandela’s remarks were followed by racist chants by Algerian football fans, who compared Moroccans to animals.
“Give them the bananas, Moroccans are animals,” the fans said during the CHAN opening match.
Pinnick took issue with these comments. “We must remember that football promotes unity and peace in the world and that all member countries of FIFA, as well as the nations that apply to host events, must be willing and ready to act in the same spirit,” he said.
He especially decried Algeria’s politicization of a sporting event, stressing that politicizing sports goes against the role of football as a venue to bring nations and peoples together.
“We must focus on football and not mix it up with ideological or political differences,” he fumed. “I am therefore saddened by these events during the African Nations Championship, a very important tournament in the African football calendar for the development of local players.”
FIFA and CAF must intervene
Pinnick concluded his statement by urging FIFA and CAF to tackle the issue in accordance with the relevant articles of the Statues of the world governing body of football to prevent such an act from happening again.
The Confederation of African Football (CAF) issued a press release this week, announcing its decision to investigate the political statements and events at the CHAN opening ceremony.
“These political statements are not the statements of CAF and do not reflect the views or opinions of CAF as a politically neutral organization,” CAF’s statement added.
In addition to Pinnick, President of Djibouti’s Football Federation and Vice President of CAF Waberi Souleiman Hassan has decried Mandela’s grandson’s political remarks during the CHAN launching ceremony.
“In accordance with the statutes of FIFA and CAF, I condemn the remarks that the grandson of the late Nelson Mandela made during the opening ceremony of CHAN,” Hassan said in a tweet on January 15. “Personal remarks certainly but which reflect neither the values nor the principles of neutrality of CAF.”
