How Algeria and Morocco's political rivalry spilled into football

There are just over two years left until kick-off, but the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has yet to be assigned an organising country.

Everyone on the continent knows that although there are four candidates, two North African neighbours - Algeria and Morocco - are the primary contenders.

As the more time passes, the clearer it becomes that only a ready-made country could organise a competition hosting 24 national teams.  This is certainly not the case with Zambia and the joint bid of Nigeria and Benin.

Algeria hosted the African Nations Championship (CHAN) earlier this year. As for Morocco, although the last major senior football tournament organised by this country was the 2018 16-team African Nations Championship, it is the most advanced country in terms of football infrastructure.

"As in many countries, especially in autocracies, football is everything"

Morocco regularly hosts matches between African clubs and national teams that don’t have stadiums that comply with the requirements set by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). In the last international window, it hosted the 2023 AFCON qualifying home games of Sierra Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Ethiopia, Guinea, and Burkina Faso - a total of six matches.

It seems like an easy decision to make, one could say. So why is CAF waiting so long to make it?

The difficulty of CAF’s choice lies in the fact that the governments of Algeria and Morocco are currently embroiled in open political conflict and the football associations of both countries wouldn’t welcome the assignment of the 2025 AFCON to their rival.

Tensions have been simmering since both countries became independent, mainly due to the contentious issue of Western Sahara. The relationship between Algeria and Morocco underwent a sharp downturn in 1994 when the land borders between them were closed. In August 2021, Algeria decided to completely break off diplomatic relations.

The government led by Abdelmadjid Tebboune accused Morocco of having become a “platform for foreign powers to criticise Algeria” and of supporting two terrorist groups. These included the Kabylia Self-Determination Movement (MAK), which campaigns for Kabylia's independence and was accused of starting fires that devastated the region in August 2021. A month later, Algeria also closed its airspace to Moroccan aircraft. 

The diplomatic conflict has now become entwined with sporting relations, with both countries viewing footballing prowess as a political investment.

In late June 2022, Algeria denied entry into the country to nine Moroccan sports journalists tasked with covering the Mediterranean Games in the city of Oran. They were officially denied entry because they didn’t have regular accreditation, but a reporter from one of the media involved says that the Algerian authorities considered them potential spies for the Moroccan government.

Kept in police custody at the airport overnight, the journalists were forced to return to Morocco via Tunisia the next day.

Months later, in September, the U17 Arab Cup final between Algeria and Morocco, also hosted by Algeria, resulted in an all-out brawl between the players, with the intervention of some spectators. For both of the aforementioned competitions, the Moroccan delegation had to make a stopover in Tunisia to enter Algeria due to the closure of airspace.

The Moroccan Football Association (FRMF) refused to repeat such a trip on the occasion of the African Nations Championship (CHAN), effectively withdrawing from the tournament one day before the start.

This sparked a heated international debate, which was further inflamed by the events that occurred during CHAN's opening day.

Speaking at the opening of the African Nations Championship football tournament in January at a stadium named after his grandfather, Zwelivelile 'Mandla' Mandela said the Morocco-controlled Western Sahara was Africa's "last colony" and urged its “liberation”.

CAF opened an investigation into both the Moroccan and Algerian FA, but its disciplinary committee didn’t issue any sanctions. Morocco’s FRMF filed an appeal in the hours following CAF’s decision, demanding sanctions against its Algerian counterpart.

“We have witnessed a political use of sport on both sides, which led to a crisis that was foreseeable,” Hasni Abidi, an Algerian political analyst and director of the Centre for Studies and Research on the Arab and Mediterranean World (Cermam), told The New Arab.

“Everyone involved is responsible for the crisis, but CAF didn’t play its full role. CAF must aim for more transparent and effective regulation.”

Ali Lmrabet, a Moroccan journalist, said Morocco’s withdrawal from CHAN was yet another lamentable by-product of the political conflict.

"We have witnessed a political use of sport on both sides, which led to a crisis that was foreseeable"

“Tempers are high around the Western Sahara conflict,” he told TNA. “So, everyone tries to score points, which is detrimental to the sport. But the loser remains Morocco, which could have won CHAN.”

When asked why the conflict between governments has escalated into the realm of football, in one case prompting fans of Wydad Casablanca to refrain from travelling to Algeria to watch a CAF Champions League match against JS Kabylie, both Abidi and Lmrabet agreed that football has become political.

“If we were in a democracy, even a diminished one, things would work out differently,” added Lmrabet. “But now, Morocco and Algeria are like France and Germany in the 19th century. We are on the brink of war, which is unlikely but not impossible because everyone wants to get the better of the other. And since neither country is a democracy, it will continue like this for a long time to come.”

Hosting the 2025 AFCON is an extremely important goal for both countries, who have been investing in the construction of new infrastructure for years now.

Algeria has renovated some of the stadiums it used for CHAN and is building new ones in major cities, such as Tizi Ouzou. In 2021, the Moroccan Parliament approved the building of 814 stadiums by 2023, especially in rural areas, granting a budget exceeding 161 million euros.

It's no coincidence then that Morocco was one of the candidate countries to host the 2026 World Cup and has joined the candidacy of Spain and Portugal to host the 2030 tournament.

There is a genuine race to become the best footballing country on the continent, and it’s at least improving the conditions in which football is played. Hosting the AFCON would therefore be the cherry on top of the cake, synonymous with international rewards.

“Football is a political investment for Tebboune’s mandate,” said Abidi. “Football was absent during the start of his term due to Covid. Now, he knows that it can play a crucial role in making himself popular or vice versa. The Algerian Hirak movement that overthrew former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika started in the stadiums. Football is a real barometer of the country,” Abidi added.

“As in many countries, especially in autocracies, football is everything,” stated Lmrabet. “The regime seeks by all means to make Moroccans forget their primary needs and priorities by making them dream with football.”

"There is a genuine race to become the best footballing country on the continent"

This is more feasible when the FA president, Fouzi Lekjaa, is also the Minister Delegate to the Minister of Finance, responsible for the budget. “He is part of a group of people who pull the strings of the deep state,” Lmrabet pointed out.

But while waiting for the 2025 AFCON to be awarded, attention must be paid to the U17 competition which will start in Algeria on 29 April and which will also see the participation of Morocco. The fear is that the scenes seen at last year's Arab Cup could be repeated during the knockout phase when both national teams could meet again.

“Everything must be done to avoid making matters worse between two brotherly peoples,” said Abidi. “Political differences are to be contained and not maintained.”

Lmrabet is more pessimistic. “I expect a very bad future,” he concluded. “At the first provocation, on one side or the other, everything risks jumping into the air.”

Alex Čizmić is a freelance journalist based between Italy and Bosnia-Herzegovina. 

Follow him on Twitter: @AlexCizmic