Arab Champions League: when sport interferes with politics

Mohammed V Olympic stadium in Morocco will host the fist leg of the Arab Champions League final opposing the Moroccan squad “ Widad Casablanca” to the Algerian side ESSetif amid high tension triggered by huge media uproar in Morocco .

The Algerian team is preparing the Friday’s match in a very special context this time around following a relentless pressure imposed by the Moroccans to disturb the Algerian players.

ESSetif is preparing the away match amid heavy and strenuous atmosphere as the Moroccan media is fussing around the incident occurred days earlier in Algeria when the Moroccan anthem was interrupted before the kick off of the match opposing the Algerian squad.

The Moroccan authorities used this event to pass a purely political message in which they requested the opening of the frontiers between both countries. As a consequence, Moroccan authorities tightened security measures around the Algerian squad headquarters in “ Al Farh” hotel to avoid zealous acts.

The complete line up of ESSetif comprised of 24 players started its preparation in Casa over the last two days and the team is fully confident, despite the difficulty, to surprise the Moroccan side at home according to its coach the French, Bernard Simondi .

Some 70000 Moroccan fans are set to flock to the stadium to put extra pressure on the Algerian squad, who conferred with the Algerian council in Casablanca, this one paid a visit to the team as part of a total support of the Algerian authorities and in a move to lift up the spirit of the team.

The president of ESSetif, Abdelhakim Serrar is due to arrive to Casa along with 80 other Algerian fans on Thursday. Some 200 of them  will do their best to support their team and stand by their side during the match.