Moroccan Team RS Berkane Advanced to African Confederation Cup Finals After Algerian Withdrawal: CAF Decision Is Final

The Moroccan Football Federation announced today, Thursday, that the Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided to count the result of the match between RS Berkane and the defending champion USM Algiers in the second stage of the west -African Confederation Cup finals. of the Moroccan team 3-0, after the match could not be held and qualified for the final, with the match file sent to the Disciplinary Committee.

It was supposed to hold a return match before the final between RS Berkane and USM Algiers last Sunday, but the political dispute over the Moroccan team’s shirt was renewed again and the Algerian team withdrew.

Nahdet Berkane wore on his shirt an enlarged map of Morocco that included the disputed Western Sahara, which has been the subject of disagreements between Rabat and Algeria over closing the borders between the two African neighbors. -North from the 1990s.

Algerian newspaper An-Nahar reported that USM stopped playing against RS Berkane in the second leg of the semi-final because of the alleged and fake map that RS Berkane’s players had- in during the warm-up, and that was the reason. the refusal of captain Belaid and the rest to enter the green rectangle with the slogan of sovereignty in the row “Red and sovereignty above all else.”

The Moroccan Federation said in a statement that it “received today a copy of the decision of the Confederation of African Football Club Committee regarding the second leg before the final of the Confederation Cup between RS Berkane from Morocco and USM Algiers in Algeria.

“The meeting was held yesterday, Wednesday, and the committee unanimously decided the following.
“Algiers lost to the USA 3-0. The RS Berkane team has received official qualification for the final match of the African Confederation Cup, which it will take with the Egyptian team Zamalek on May 12 at the city stadium in the city of Berkane, and the return match on May 19 in Cairo.
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The Confederation of African Football (CAF) decided to count the result of the match in the first leg between the two teams in favor of the Moroccan team, 3-0, after the match could not be held.