Rabat – Moroccan football club RS Berkane has welcomed the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (TAS) confirming its victory over USM Alger in the semi-final of last year’s CAF Confederation Cup.
In a statement today, the Moroccan club celebrated the TAS’s “rejection of USM Alger’s request to annul the match results.”
The club also celebrated the fact that no sanctions have been issued against the club.
The tournament last year was fraught with drama due to Algeria’s hostility towards the RS Berkane team as well as Morocco’s territorial integrity.
In April last year, the Confederation of African Football confirmed that RS Berkane as a winner after Algeria’s team decided to unilaterally leave the competition because the Moroccan team’s jerseys featured the full map of Morocco, including the southern provinces.
Algeria hosts, finances, and supports the Polisario Front, a separatist group claiming independence in Western Sahara. This challenges Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces in Western Sahara.
The authorities in Algeria also confiscated RS Berkane’s jersey after the club landed in Algeria for the first leg of their double confrontation against USM Alger.
In the second leg, USM Alger traveled to Morocco only to pull out from the game for a second time.
CAF penalized USM Alger with a forfeit of 0-3 for the first and second-leg matches.
