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Rabat – France’s Toulouse Football Club (FC) on Friday deleted a tweet displaying a full Moroccan map following a wave of comments from Algerians and Polisario sympathizers in France.
The deleted tweet celebrated the recent call-up of the Toulouse FC forward Zakaria Aboukhlal to the Atlas Lions squad for the team’s upcoming pre-World Cup matches. Aboukhlal has previously played with the Atlas Lions in the AFCON 2023 qualifiers.
After deleting its original tweet, Toulouse FC shared a new tweet on Saturday morning showing Aboukhlal resting the Moroccan flag on his shoulder.
“At TéFéCé, we only know one thing: that Zakaria Aboukhlal is selected with the Atlas Lions,” reads the new tweet. “Good luck to him and to the Moroccan selection during this truce!”
The online incident sparked outrage among Moroccan social media users, with many slamming the French club for deleting the tweet and denouncing its politically-influenced decision.
“Where is the post of Zakarakia with full Morocco map? Why you deleted it and left those of other African players? All we can understand is that your club has been affected by political orientations. Shame on you. You are losing Moroccans support now,” tweeted a Moroccan user.
Another user described Toulouse FC’s move as “an act of cowardice.”
Others stressed the Moroccanness of Western Sahara in an effort to defend their country’s territorial integrity against Algerian and Polisario separatist claims.
As Morocco’s diplomacy has succeeded in rallying international support around its stance on Western Sahara, the display of a full Moroccan map has been increasingly adopted by different public and private entities such as Euronews and the Arab League.
However, several European countries including France have not adopted the use of the full Moroccan map as they have not yet officially endorsed Morocco’s sovereignty over its southern provinces.
Read Also: Colonialism and Conflict: Facts About the Map of Morocco
