The dispute over the jerseys featuring the complete map of Morocco–encompassing its Sahara region– has now reached the handball court with the Algerian Under-17 National Handball Team declining to participate in the match against its Moroccan counterpart at the indoor arena of the Mohammed V complex in Casablanca.
The national teams of both countries were scheduled to compete in the third day of the Arab Under-17 Championships, hosted in Morocco, yesterday at 7 P.M.
As a result of the team’s withdrawal, Algeria lost on paper with a score of 10-0.
Karima Taleb, the President of the Algerian Handball Federation (FAH), asserted on Tuesday that the FAH would boycott the match “…if the officials of the opposing team decide to play this match with a shirt bearing their “imaginary map” which does not respect the international norms and laws in force.”
She also accused Morocco of disrupting the Algerian delegation.
“The Under-17 Handball National Team was subjected to hazing and a systematic campaign of abuse before their first-round match against Saudi Arabia on Monday, and the national anthem was cut off,” she said.
This saga is a continuation of another incident that began on Sunday during the first leg of the TotalEnergies Confederation Cup (CC CAF) semifinal between Algeria’s USM Alger/USMA and Morocco’s RS Berkane/RSB, which was canceled at the 5-July-1962 Stadium in Algiers due to a disagreement over the map of the official t-shirts of Berkane’s players, leading to their eventual confiscation by Algerian authorities.
RSB refused to play without their official jerseys. Despite this dispute escalating beyond the realm of sportsmanship and set to be deliberated in the offices of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).