Moroccan media confirmed that the country's national team will not participate in the African Cup of Nations (CHAN), which starts today, Friday, in Algeria and will continue until the fourth of next February.
The local "Hespress" website stated that "the Moroccan national under-23 team was unable - officially - to obtain a license to enter Algerian soil in order to participate in the African Cup of Nations."
And the site added that he "watched the players' exit from Rabat-Salé airport a short while ago," and quoted the players as confirming - in statements to the press - "the mission was unable to travel."
"The deprivation of the national team from participating in (the affair) competitions is very unfortunate," said Fawzi Lakjaa, President of the Royal Moroccan University (Moroccan Football Association), today, Friday.
Lakjaa told reporters at Rabat-Salé airport, after the Moroccan national team had been waiting since early morning to obtain permission from Algeria to take off a Moroccan Airlines flight, “It is a matter of mathematical regret that a Moroccan national team is prevented from defending the last two titles of the championship, after it had prepared for 6 months.” months to participate.
He explained, "It is very unfortunate that we remain at the airport for several hours today, waiting for a permit, so that the team can go to participate in an African championship in which it participated in the qualifiers."
The mission of the Moroccan national team arrived - Friday morning - at Rabat-Salé International Airport, awaiting the decision to travel to Algeria.
And the Moroccan Federation had announced - earlier - that "the reason for Morocco's withdrawal from (the affair of) Algeria is due to the fact that they did not obtain a response from the African Union to go to Algeria on a direct flight via Royal Moroccan Airlines," according to the Moroccan Federation's statement on its official website.
Algeria informed the Confederation of African Football (CAF) of its refusal to directly pass the "national team" plane from Morocco to Algeria, after Morocco submitted a request to Algeria to allow the Royal Air Maroc plane to move directly to its territory.
Morocco fell into the third group, which includes Sudan, Madagascar and Ghana, in the African Championship, which starts today with a confrontation between Algeria - the owner of the land and the audience - and Libya.
The Moroccan national team won the title for the last two editions, in 2018 at home and in 2020 in Cameroon.
Morocco - who won the title in the last two editions - camped in Sale, and prepared for the tournament with two friendly matches against Ethiopia.
And in 2021, Algeria closed its airspace to Moroccan airlines, after unilaterally severing diplomatic relations with its neighbor.