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Morocco to skip football tournament in Algeria over flights ban

Algeria closed its airspace to all Moroccan flights in September 2021, the month after it cut off diplomatic ties with its rival, accusing it of "hostile acts".

Reuters

Morocco's senior national team last month became the first from an African country to reach the World Cup semi-finals.

Morocco will not take part in a football tournament being held in Algeria after the Algerian government rejected its request for the team to fly there directly on Morocco's national airline.

"The Moroccan national team is unable to reach (the Algerian city of) Constantine because permission for their flight with Royal Air Maroc, the team's official transporter, has not been confirmed," Morocco's FRMF football federation said in a statement on Thursday.

It said the Confederation of African Football (CAF) had informed it last month that Algeria had issued "an authorisation in principle" for the flight.

But just 24 hours before the tournament starts on Friday, the FRMF said it "notes with regret that the definitive authorisation for the flight from Rabat to Constantine has unfortunately not been confirmed".

Algeria closed its airspace to all Moroccan flights in September 2021, the month after it cut off diplomatic ties with its rival, accusing it of "hostile acts".

That was the latest escalation in a long-running rivalry fuelled by the Western Sahara dispute and relations with Israel.

The Moroccan team, which made history last month by becoming the first African or Arab team ever to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup, have won the past two African Nations Championships.