CAF Confederation Cup
Confederation Cup runs into crisis as Moroccan players of RS Berkane are stranded at Algerian airport following seizure of jerseys and equipment
Algerian authorities have reportedly confiscated the Morocco’s RS Berkane’s equipment due to the jerseys’ depicting a complete map of Morocco with the southern provinces.
Officials of Morocco’s RS Berkane club delegation, stranded at Houari Boumediene Airport in Algiers, have demanded the return of their jerseys and sports equipment confiscated by Algerian security forces before entering Algerian territory, Moroccan outlet Le360 reported.
According to Morocco World News, this development comes after RS Berkane was denied entry into Algeria Friday morning because their jerseys displayed a complete map of Morocco, including its southern provinces.
The team was then left stranded at Houari Boumediene Airport, with images circulating online showing RS Berkane players performing Friday prayer at the airport.
The outlet quoted a source close to the team as saying that its officials threatened not to participate in the upcoming CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals against Algerian club Union Sportive Medina d’Alger if Algerian security authorities refuse to return their equipment.
The move is part of a broader trend of Algeria’s attempts to undermine Morocco diplomatically, particularly in the Western Sahara issue.
Later today, a meeting took place between representatives of Union Sportive Medina d’Alger and RS Berkane, along with delegates from the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
However, RS Berkane officials were “compelled” to withdraw from the meeting after Algerian security forces forcibly entered the venue, Le360 reported.
According to the same source, RS Berkane officials were surprised by the security forces’ intrusion into the meeting, which disrupted the planned discussions. They refused to carry on with the meeting due to the presence of security officials, especially since the meeting was solely focused on sports affairs.
Le360 added that Algerian authorities demanded that RS Berkane place stickers on the player’s jerseys to cover up the full map of Morocco as a condition to enter Algerian territory. However, the Moroccan team’s officials strongly rejected the proposal, considering it absurd and inappropriate.
CAF Confederation Cup
CAF adjudges Morocco’s Youssef Mehri’s goal as the fastest in football history
Moroccan club, Renaissance de Berkane, beat their Algerian counterparts, CS Constantine, 4-0 in the first leg of the CAF Confederation Cup semi-finals at the weekend.
The game got off to a dream start for the Moroccan club as it took Youssef Mehri less than a minute to open the scoring in the big win against the Algerians.
Officially, the goal is recorded to have been scored after 13 seconds.
In a post on X (formerly Twitter), CAF remarks: “Youssef Mehri goes straight into the history books. The RS Berkane striker scores the fastest goal ever scored in the CAF Cup.”
A deeper search by Sports Village Square indicates that a Nigerian player, Paul Onuachu, had previously scored a faster goal, but not in a CAF Cup duel.
The basketball player-like footballer scored his first international goal in a 1-0 defeat of Egypt on 26 March 2019.
The goal inflicted Nigeria’s first defeat on Egypt in 29 years. But more significant was the timing of the goal. Onuachu, within eight seconds of kick-off, undoubtedly entered the record books as the second fastest goal in international football records after that of Germany’s Lukas Podolsk, who scored after six seconds in a friendly against Ecuador in 2013.
Fans had hardly settled down at the Stephen Keshi Stadium in Asaba for the Nigeria versus Egypt match when Onuachu released a thunderous shot that turned out to be the match’s decider.
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The Renaissance Sportive de Berkane delegation will travel to Algeria this Friday to face CS Constantine in the CAF Cup. Tension may be building up for the potentially explosive confrontation that could have a build-up from last year’s fixtures of the Moroccan club and another Algerian outfit, USM Algiers, in the CAF Confederation Cup.
A Moroccan news outlet, Sport.le360, reports that a Tunisian airline will operate the direct flight between Oujda-Angad Airport, which is located about 12 kilometres north of Oujda and about 600 kilometres northeast of Casablanca, near the Algerian border and Constantine Mohamed Boudiaf International Airport.
Last year, political differences between Morocco and Algeria scuttled similar semi-final clashes between clubs of both countries.
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The Court of Arbitration for Sport on Wednesday ruled in favour of the Algerian football federation in a row over a map of Morocco on shirts worn by Renaissance Berkane in the 2024 CAF Confederation Cup.
Algerian club USM Alger were kicked out of last year’s competition after both legs of their semi-final against Berkane were cancelled because of a diplomatic dispute.
Neither match took place as USMA and the Algerian authorities objected to a map of Morocco on the Berkane shirts which included Western Sahara.
Algeria cut diplomatic ties with North African neighbours Morocco in 2021, partly over the Western Sahara issue.
The former Spanish colony is largely controlled by Morocco but claimed by the Algeria-backed Polisario Front, which seeks the territory’s independence.
The Confederation of African Football awarded Berkane a 3-0 victory for both legs of the semi-final.
CAF at the time responded to an appeal by the Algerian FA by ruling in favour of Berkane, saying the club had been wearing the same jerseys since the start of the tournament.
But the Algerian FA took the case to sport’s highest court in Switzerland, which determined that the shirts in question were “contrary to CAF regulations, as they display a territorial map that is of a political nature.”
“The image of a map of Morocco including Western Sahara on the shirts of RS Berkane depicts a message, a demonstration or propaganda of a political nature as it represents the assertion of a territorial dispute that is contested and still unresolved as of today,” CAS said in a statement.
“By the laws of the game of the International Football Association Board, it is prohibited to convey any content of a political nature on all equipment, including shirts.”
CAS added that the initial decision by CAF to “maintain the approval of the shirts is annulled”, but the court said that it would have no effect on the results of the tournament.
Egypt’s Zamalek beat Berkane on away goals in the final.
-AFP
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