Morocco’s Nahda Berkane have officially qualified for the final of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) Cup, amid a storm of controversy over a map drawn on their players’ shirts.
The second leg of the semi-final between Nahdet Berkane and USM Alger was supposed to be held last Sunday, but the dispute over the Moroccan team’s shirt renewed again, and the Algerian team withdrew.
The Algerian team refused to enter the stadium and play the match because of Nahdet Berkane’s insistence on playing the match wearing a shirt for the map of Morocco, which includes Western Sahara, a territory that Algeria does not recognize.
The Moroccan Football Federation said in a statement that it “received today a copy of the decision of the Club Committee of the Confederation of African Football (CAF), regarding the second leg match before the Confederation Cup final between Morocco’s Nahda Berkane and USM Alger.”
The committee unanimously decided that: “USM Alger lost (3-0) and referred the match file to the disciplinary committee for possible additional disciplinary measures.”
Thus, Nahdet Berkane officially qualified for the final match of the CAF Confederation Cup, which will bring it together with Egypt’s Zamalek on May 12th at the Municipal Stadium in Berkane, and the second leg on May 19th in Cairo.
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