To stay up to date on African news, subscribe to the “Monde Afrique” newsletter from this link. Every Saturday at 6 am, find a week of current events and debates treated by the editorial staff of “Monde Afrique”.
The Fennecs, the Algerian national team, arrived, Monday, September 6, in the Moroccan city of Marrakech on the eve of their match against Burkina Faso, for the qualifiers for the Africa zone of the 2022 World Cup, against a backdrop of strong diplomatic tensions between Algiers and Rabat.
The Algerian delegation has “Been received by officials of the Moroccan Football Federation at Marrakech airport”, said on Monday an official of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), Mohamed Makrouf.
“As usual, we hope to win. If we put that aside, we will play football, there is no political history ”, declared for his part the coach of the Fennecs, Djamel Belmadi, before leaving Algiers. But there are climatic conditions, apparently it is very hot in Marrakech ”, he added.
Temperature
On the diplomatic level too, the temperature has recently climbed between the two Maghreb neighbors. On August 24, Algeria severed diplomatic relations with Morocco, accusing it of “Hostile actions” after months of heightened tensions between these two Maghreb countries, in particular on the question of Western Sahara.
Morocco, for its part, regretted this decision “Completely unjustified” and rejected “The fallacious, even absurd, pretexts which underlie it”.
The match between Algeria and Burkina Faso on Tuesday as part of the second day of Group 1 of the 2022 World Cup qualifiers, will be played in Morocco due to the non-compliance of the Burkina Faso stadium with the standards of the International Football Federation. (FIFA).