Moroccan Football Federation Sues Website Over Salafism Allegations Against Player

The site achkayne accused the Moroccan player of promoting the Salafist rite in general and in particular among the players of the national team.

In a statement, the FRMF categorically denies the accusations made by the Arabic-language site against Moroccan international Zakaria Aboukhlal. "Following the publication by one of the websites of an article touching on the person and behavior of the Moroccan international Zakaria Aboukhlal during his participation with the national team at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation categorically denies the false accusations that have affected him in this article," it is written in a press release.

For the federation, "the player has shown exemplary behavior alongside his colleagues in order to obtain honorable results with the national team in this world event".

And to express "its firm condemnation of the attacks made by this site on the person and behavior of the player Zakaria Aboukhlal, and through him, on the image of the national football team with all its components", the FRMF declares that it "will resort to legal measures to protect the members of the national football team and refute all false allegations affecting their behavior or their personal life in the exercise of their national functions".

A few days ago, it was the German channel Welt that had accused several Moroccan players, Chair, Sabiri and Aboukhlal, of terrorism, because they point their index finger towards the sky, a gesture popularized by supporters of the terrorist group Daech. Faced with the outcry caused by this article, the channel had to apologize to the players.