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Rabat – The Algerian regime, adept at offside and political tackling, has once again distinguished itself by committing a gross foul on the African football field.
By confiscating Renaissance Sportive de Berkane’s jerseys emblazoned with the undivided map of Morocco and then forcing them to wear fake outfits for the first leg of their CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals, Algiers not only flouted the elementary rules of sport, but also provided yet another example of its growing, ludicrous politicization of sport to serve its inherent hostility to Morocco.
Under the pretext of an attack on their sovereignty, which is as fragile as a house of cards, Algerian customs officials confiscated late last week the Moroccan team’s official, CAF-approved equipment.
By all counts, this was a bizarre decision in line with an Algerian discourse that, while claiming neutrality in the Sahara dispute, continues to interfere in the issue ingloriously by supporting the Polisario Front’s separatist agenda.
Faced with a clear request from CAF to return the confiscated jerseys, the Algerian authorities have opted for a blind and deaf policy. They pushed the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) into illegality by having it produce shirts without the map of Morocco, in violation of copyright law.
This clumsy maneuver will ultimately have deceived no one: the motivation behind this whole absurd theater was indeed the Algerian regime’s obsession with undermining or challenging Moroccan territorial integrity.
In the face of this new coup from Algiers, CAF, the guardian of the temple of African football, cannot stand idly by. It is time for the governing body of African football to start whistling and showing the red card to Algeria for its unconscionably extreme politicization of the beautiful game!
Read also: Strategic Paranoia: The Banality of Algeria’s Moroccan Obsession
Renaissance de Berkane deserve to walk on the green carpet as winners of their CAF Confederation semi-finals, while the FAF, hostage to the Algerian regime’s political obsessions, must be severely sanctioned — both financially and athletically.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time that the Algerian authorities have turned football pitches into political battlegrounds. We still remember the 2022 CHAN and the controversial speech of Nelson Mandela’s grandson on the Sahara issue during the outrageous opening ceremony, an incident that had already earned a warning from CAF.
How ironic, given that the city of Berkane was once home to FLN leaders during the Algerian war of independence! The Algerian regime, which seems to have quickly forgotten that Morocco once stood in solidarity with its “Algerian brothers” against France, now prefers to indulge in sterile and counterproductive provocations.
And what, ultimately, is to be said about a regime that waves the flag of “sovereignty” at every turn in order to better intervene in the affairs of its neighbors? This umpteenth blunder shows that Algiers remains deaf to the call for fair play and appeasement. One more proof, if needed, that the round ball is too round for the soldiers at the helm.
It is time for the CAF to face up to its responsibilities and put an end to these unworthy actions. African football cannot be a playground for the political whims of an obsessed regime. It is time to blow the whistle on Algiers and restore football to its nobility.
