Due to issues over a map on the Moroccan shirts, USM Alger was forced to leave the game, and CAF gave Berkane a 3-0 victory.
A disagreement about a map on the Moroccan club’s shirts caused the African Confederation Cup match between Renaissance Berkane and USM Alger, an Algerian team, to be canceled for the second week in a row.
The first leg of Berkane’s semifinal match against Algeria was called off last Sunday due to the Moroccan team’s refusal to play after Algerian officials confiscated their uniforms. As a result, Berkane was granted a 3-0 victory by the Confederation of African Football (CAF).
When the stadium announcer informed the crowd that the game had been canceled on Sunday in Berkane, only the home team’s players took the field and acknowledged their supporters.
The USM squad reportedly left the stadium just prior to the planned kickoff at 1900 GMT, according to Moroccan television.
The controversy started last week, when the Moroccan team traveled to Algeria in preparation for the first-leg match.
Because Berkane’s shirts contained a map of Morocco that showed the disputed Western Sahara, customs officials confiscated them.
Berkane refused to play in any other shirt, therefore USM Alger sporting director Toufik Korichi announced on Algerian radio just before the first leg kickoff that the match would not take place.
“High demand”
Western Sahara, a former Spanish colony, is primarily under Moroccan authority, although the Algeria-backed Polisario Front claims the region and is working toward its independence.
Partly due to the dispute, Algeria severed diplomatic ties with Morocco in 2021.
Supporters of Renaissance held up a flag with a map of Morocco that showed the disputed territory prior to kickoff on Sunday. Numerous supporters waved Moroccan flags.
Sales of Berkane jerseys were booming in the official store on Saturday.
The official distributor of the Moroccan team shirt, Soufiane Al Korchi, stated that “there is a huge demand” and that the “map has been part of the official design for three years.”
The Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne has received an appeal from the Algerian football federation challenging the CAF penalties. The federation claims that the Cairo-based authority has “validated the request of the Moroccan club, RS Berkane, to wear a shirt with a political message”.
SOURCE: TRTWORLD
