For years, Moroccan Supporters (Ultras) have been trying to make their voices listened to, not only nationally but internationally too, defending the legitimacy of Morocco over Sahara’s territory, especially after the brightness of Raja’s Athletic Club in 2013 FIFA Club World Cup where they became more known for their way of support. Other clubs’ supporters gained fame after that significant achievement.
Moroccan Ultras took advantage of their fame and started talking about national causes, such as the Moroccan Sahara, on several occasions and different periods.
Raja Athletic Club (RCA) was one of those clubs whose supporters raised their voices about this question, nationally and internationally. Every time RCA played a match in Algeria in the past few years, its supporters sang, “With a political mentality, we are saying the Sahara is Moroccan… We attacked the polisario” in streets and stands, as in the way of defending the Moroccan Sovereignty over the Sahara.
As for Wydad Athletic Club (WAC), Ultras Winners quoted King Hassan II’s speech about the Sahara on a “banner.” The message contained: “The Sahara is in Morocco, and Morocco is in its Sahara” in its first played match after the green march in 2015 with Olympique Club of Khouribga (OCK).
As for Ultras Hercules, it raised its voice on the 14th of February 2015 during a football match played in Laayoune between Chabab Massira of Laayoune and Ittihad of Tanger, saying “[Damn] polisario and Bouteflika!”, expressing their anger against the anti-Morocco positions of former Secretary-General of the United Nations, Ban Ki-moon.
After his Majesty’s latest speech on the occasion of the anniversary of the “Revolution of the King and the population,” Fatal Tigers, the Ultras of Maghrib Fassi raised a Tifo “Our Sahara, our country” on the 3rd of September, expressing the attachment of Moroccans to Sahara, and defending their National first cause.
Those are some of the ways Moroccan supporters and Ultras Members are using to defend the national cause and to express to the world the Moroccans’ attachment toward their land.
They use soccer to express their country’s legitimacy in the southern provinces, thus shaping a new form of “sports diplomacy.