Tanzania Coach Backtracks on Controversial Claims About Morocco’s Influence in African Football

"The FRMF is a proven power in the world of African football. Moreover, during the last match against Morocco, they forced us to play in the evening when we wanted to play in the early afternoon. Currently, it is Morocco that manages African football. They also choose their referees and we remain mere spectators," Adel Amrouche said in an Algerian television channel. The Algerian coach was certainly referring to the match between Tanzania and Morocco, played at home and won by the Atlas Lions (0-2).

Amrouche’s remarks provoked strong reactions from Moroccan Internet users. Questioned in a press conference, Walid Regragui, the coach of the Moroccan team, flatly rejected these accusations. The president of the Tanzanian Football Federation, Wallace Karia, for his part, distanced himself from the Algerian technician. "We do not support the statement of our head coach Adel Amrouche after he accused Morocco of dominating African football and manipulating the referees who officiate in its matches. We absolutely do not support this statement, because we respect Morocco for its hard work in the development of football and will know what to do in the face of the reckless and provocative statement of the coach," he said.

Faced with the controversy, the Algerian technician made new statements on Tuesday at the pre-match press conference for the Morocco-Tanzania match counting for the first day of the 2024 CAN Côte d’Ivoire. This time, he praised the merits of the Moroccan team, a semi-finalist in the last World Cup. "The Moroccan team speaks for itself... I expressed myself a month ago, saying that it is one of the best national teams in the world," he said, stressing the impossibility of erasing the rich history of the Moroccan national team, its performances, including its victory over Brazil.

He added: "[...] It reached the semi-finals. I praised the tactical spirit of the coach, the state of mind, the style of play... It is not a team that wins by chance. It wins by its abilities. It deserves it." Referring to the FRMF and its president Fouzi Lekjaa, the Algerian technician seems to express regrets: "Don’t take badly what I said. Egypt was like that before, Tunisia too, don’t just remember the negative. [...] We must hope only for the good things and be fair-play. Fair-play also dominated our confrontation in Dar es Salaam."