As was expected, the Court of Arbitration for Sport CAS has rejected a request by the Algerian football federation to annul a decision by the African football federation (CAF) following the Morocco map saga.
CAF has declared that the RS Berkane qualifies to the final of the African football federation cup after the USMA- an Algiers club- abstained from playing the return game, in protest over the Moroccan map on Berkane’s jerseys.
In the first leg game, Algerian authorities had confiscated the jerseys of RS Berkane, arguing that the full Moroccan map- including the Sahara territory- was a violation of Algerian sovereignty! Algerian football federation and the administration of USMA sided with the Algerian regime’s politicization attempts and that cost the Algerian team a painful elimination.
RS Berkane became the first team to qualify to the final without playing a game, due to the intransigence of Algerian football authorities to politicize sports.
RS Berkane play Egypt’s Zamalek in the final of the African Confederation Cup, while Algeria’s USMA and FAF should brace for tough sanctions after an unjustified withdrawal.
A CAF disciplinary committee is meeting next Wednesday to issue a verdict. Analysts expect the federation to ban USMA from participation in all continental competitions for two years and order the Algerian football federation to pay a heavy fine.
Blinded with an endemic hostility towards Morocco’s territorial integrity, Algeria has isolated itself politically and economically and now it is sabotaging its own sports for the sake of the Polisario separatist militias.
Social media is already awash with criticism by USMA football fans blaming the Algerian regime for militarization and politicization of sports.
Algeria’s U17 handball team has withdrawn from an Arab championship to avoid playing against a Moroccan squad with jerseys bearing the Kingdom’s full map and the country’s gymnastic national team abandoned an African championship in Morocco.
Sabotaging sports, the only distraction for an impoverished and disenchanted youth, could lead to an implosion instead of the short-term distraction effect sought by a regime that has sapped Algeria’s oil and gas wealth.
Source link : https://northafricapost.com/77258-algeria-football-federation-loses-cas-card-braces-for-caf-sanctions.html
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Publish date : 2024-05-12 03:00:00
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