2023/24 CAF Conf Cup: CAF sanctions Algerian club USM Alger 3-0 over failed first-leg semi-final match

Cairo, Egypt (PANA) - Africa's football governing body, the Confederation of African Football (CAF), has awarded Moroccan football club, RS Berkane, 3-0 victory over Algerian side USM Alger, in their first leg TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup first-leg match semi-final match in Algiers which did not take place.

A statement said the CAF Interclub Competitions and Management of the Club Licensing System Committee took the decision after a meeting to deliberate on the incident during the fixture scheduled for 21 April 2024.

The CAF committee decided to sanction USM Alger, the defending champions, with a forfeit of 0-3 and to submit the case to the Disciplinary Board for possible additional sanctions, the statement said.

It added that the second-leg fixture between the two sides would go ahead at the Berkane Municipal Stadium on 28 April 2024.

The incident between the two sides started after Algerian Customs officials confiscated RS Berkane's kit on the team's arrival at the airport in Algiers two days earlier.  

The Moroccan side came to the stadium on Sunday but refused to come out from the dressing room.

The shirts of the Moroccan team display a map of Morocco on the chest area, including the disputed territory of Western Sahara, which is at the heart of sour diplomatic relations between the two countries.

Morocco has claimed Western Sahara since the departure of Spain in the 1970s while Algeria supports the Polisario Front, which had declared the territory as Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.

The Moroccan club have worn the shirt throughout the Confederation Cup campaign this season but the Algerians see it as provocative as it violates rules banning displays of a political nature on football kit.

In another football incident between the two countries last year, Morocco refused to play in the African Nations Championship tournament in Algeria when the hosts refused to allow them to fly in directly by charter plane.

-0- PANA MA 25April2024