One condition for Morocco to participate in the African Cup of Nations in Algeria

The Moroccan Football Federation has mortgaged its participation in the African Cup of Nations finals to local players scheduled in Algeria, with a direct flight from the capital, Rabat, to Constantine, hosting the “Atlas Lions” matches, in light of the closure of Algerian airspace to Moroccan planes for more than a year.

The Moroccan Football Federation stated in a statement after a meeting of the Executive Office the day before yesterday that it had sent a letter to the African Union regarding “respecting the terms of the campaign book to host the African Championships, especially with regard to facilitating the conditions of the participating teams, as it demanded that the national team travel to the city of Constantine, which will host the elite matches.” Morocco will participate in this tournament via a direct flight from the city of Rabat and by means of a private plane of Royal Air Maroc, the official carrier of the national teams.

And the statement added, "In the event that this was refused, the administrative office decided unanimously not to participate in this tournament," which it decided to play with the under-23 team instead of the local team that won its title in the last two versions in 2018 at home and 2020 in Cameroon.

The tournament for local players will be held from January 13th to February 4th in Algeria.

Morocco fell into a third group that includes Sudan, Madagascar and Ghana.

Algeria closed its airspace on September 22, 2021 to all Moroccan civil and military aircraft, after severing diplomatic relations with Rabat.

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