'Love football, hate apartheid': BDS urges Moroccans to boycott Atlas Lions' Puma World Cup jersey

As Moroccans gear up to cheer their national team in World Cup 2022 in Qatar, sporting the team's jersey remains a controversial decision because of the supplier Puma's ties with Israel.

"We love football, but we hate apartheid," published BDS Morocco, a local branch of the Palestinian-led movement Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions, in a video urging Moroccan fans to boycott the new Puma kit.

Ahead of the World Cup, Qatari youth against normalisation (QAYON) and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) called for boycotting the German sportswear company Puma over its sponsorship of the Israel Football Association (IFA).

The IFA, as documented by Human Rights Watch, includes football clubs based in illegal Israeli settlements on occupied Palestinian land. 

"Puma's current and past exclusive licensees in Israel have operations in illegal Israeli settlements," stated BDS in a press release.

 

 

 

 

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Une publication partagée par BDS Maroc (@bds.maroc)

BDS has first launched the campaign in 2018 to pressure international sports teams to cut ties with Puma.

In past years, the Palestinian-led campaign has succeeded in forcing Qatar Sports Club not to renew its contract with Puma, and the British Chester F.C. to not contract the sportswear company.

In Qatar World Cup, six teams will be sporting the controversial brand, namely Morocco, Ghana, Serbia, Senegal, Switzerland and Uruguay.

Meanwhile, the football teams of Saudi Arabia and Qatar are sponsored by the American multinational corporation Nike. The Tunisian team has contracted Italia's Kappa.

In reaction to the campaign, the Moroccan street had diverse views, between those responding to the boycott call and others refusing to sacrifice 'football's fun' for political dilemmas.

"I did not know that actually before I bought it. But to be honest, no brand is morally clean. I am just trying to be happy here for my team and have a good ambience with my friends and family," Ibrahim, a 46-year-old Moroccan man, told The New Arab.

In 2019, a report said Nike could show no evidence of a living wage being paid to any workers. A year later, the Washington Post said that the sportswear company purchased from a factory that relies on forced labour from Uyghurs.

"Honestly, I think this is an elitist conversation. Many hardcore Moroccan fans cannot afford the jersey, including me. We wear a knock-off or we just hold our national flag which is what really represents us," Yassine, a 23-year-old Moroccan student said to TNA.

In a country where the average monthly income is less than US$200 (amounting to 1,793 MAD), not spending US$100 on a jersey remains a financial decision more than an ideological one for many fans.