Morocco. The Cubs will participate in the CAN U17 organized in Algeria
After a waltz-hesitation which was reminiscent of that which had resulted in February in the boycott by the Atlas Lions of the African Nations Championship, the CHAN - a competition involving players who play on the continent -, Morocco has finally decided to land its U17 team in Constantine this Friday aboard a Romanian plane coming directly from Rabat-Salé airport. The Cubs will therefore participate in the African Cup of Nations under 17 which will take place in Algeria from April 29 to May 19.
It will be recalled that, having failed to obtain authorization to have its national team travel with the Royal Air Maroc flag, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, the FRMF, had taken the decision to boycott the CHAN event which took place in Algeria at the beginning of the current year (see adn-med of 03/02/2023). After the Algerian refusal to let the Moroccan company cross its airspace, closed to Moroccan aircraft since the rupture of diplomatic relations which occurred between the two countries in the summer of 2021, the Cherifian Kingdom had filed a complaint with the CAF for obstructing the participation of the defending champion and, above all, politicization of a sporting event since Nelson Mandela's grandson, invited to the opening ceremony, had called for support for the Polisario Front to liberate the last African colony. For its part, Algeria opted for the same procedure, arguing that the Moroccan boycott was not motivated by admissible sporting reasons. CAF ended up deciding not to decide anything, not wanting to alienate two candidate nations for the 2025 edition of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
Behind the apparent formal diatribes is in fact a showdown where each of the two countries has its support in the African bodies. It is enough to take a look at the Algerian and Moroccan titles to guess the political issues underlying these contests. In Algeria, the Tsa site is delighted to see that Morocco “submits” to Algeria's decision. On the Moroccan side, the Hespress organ informs soberly that the Lion cubs traveled by a direct flight from FIFA, a way of saying that Morocco did not change its mind when the plane which left Moroccan territory joined Constantine nonstop and that it was the international football body that interceded to override the Algerian veto.
Observers see two reasons for Moroccan flexibility. On the one hand the CAN U17 is qualifying for the world cup of the category. Which means that a Moroccan boycott would mean the elimination of the Cubs in this competition. The other motivation for this arrangement would be that it would justify the validation by CAF of Morocco's candidacy to the detriment of that of Algeria for the organization of the senior CAN of 2025; a test for which the two enemy brothers are still postulating.
Source : websites