This Friday, the Moroccan football team Rebirth of Berkane experienced a turbulent day at Algiers international airport: their equipment was confiscated, their luggage was thoroughly searched for T-shirts with the map of Morocco, and police violence was used to expel the players from the terminal It all started very well. On arrival at Algiers' Houari Boumediene International Airport at around 11 a.m., the Moroccan delegation, which had flown directly from Oujda on a special flight, was greeted with flowers by the officials of USM Alger, their CAF Cup semi-final opponents. Relations between the two clubs are extremely cordial. Both won the CAF trophy with the same coach, Algerian Abdelhak Bencheikha, in 2022 for Berkane and in 2024 for USM Alger. Just when the players had boarded the bus that was to take them to the hotel where they had settled, they were asked to return to the airport for a thorough search of their luggage. The purpose of the search was none other than to confiscate the T-shirts bearing the Moroccan emblem in the form of a map of the kingdom. In the meantime, all the equipment was confiscated. The Moroccan delegation refused to leave the airport without recovering their belongings. It took until late in the afternoon for the Moroccan delegation to finally settle into their quarters, having received assurances from CAF representatives that their equipment would be returned to them and that they would wear their shirts in accordance with the rules of the Confederation of African Football. Despite the fact that the Algerian authorities are adamant that the Moroccans should not play in a shirt bearing a complete geographical map of the Kingdom.
Globetrotter
This Friday, the Moroccan football team Rebirth of Berkane experienced a turbulent day at Algiers international airport: their equipment was confiscated, their luggage was thoroughly searched for T-shirts with the map of Morocco, and police violence was used to expel the players from the terminal
It all started very well. On arrival at Algiers' Houari Boumediene International Airport at around 11 a.m., the Moroccan delegation, which had flown directly from Oujda on a special flight, was greeted with flowers by the officials of USM Alger, their CAF Cup semi-final opponents. Relations between the two clubs are extremely cordial. Both won the CAF trophy with the same coach, Algerian Abdelhak Bencheikha, in 2022 for Berkane and in 2024 for USM Alger.
Just when the players had boarded the bus that was to take them to the hotel where they had settled, they were asked to return to the airport for a thorough search of their luggage. The purpose of the search was none other than to confiscate the T-shirts bearing the Moroccan emblem in the form of a map of the kingdom. In the meantime, all the equipment was confiscated. The Moroccan delegation refused to leave the airport without recovering their belongings.
It took until late in the afternoon for the Moroccan delegation to finally settle into their quarters, having received assurances from CAF representatives that their equipment would be returned to them and that they would wear their shirts in accordance with the rules of the Confederation of African Football. Despite the fact that the Algerian authorities are adamant that the Moroccans should not play in a shirt bearing a complete geographical map of the Kingdom.
1 year ago | [YT] | 5