World Cup Ticket Scandal: Moroccan Fans Shut Out as Black Market Thrives

The operation to distribute 17,000 tickets to Moroccans turned into a fiasco. Thus, many Moroccan supporters present in Doha did not have access to the Al Bayt stadium where the Morocco-France match took place. "The ticket distribution had been promised in certain fan zones, but while hundreds of supporters were queuing, an FRMF official announced that there were no more available," reports a supporter to Le Desk. This caused frustration among the fans of the Atlas Lions.

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At Doha airport, Moroccans arriving from Casablanca staged a sit-in to protest against the conditions of the ticket distribution operation by the FRMF. In their sights, Mohamed Boudrika, former president of Raja Casablanca and a federal member, who is in charge of this operation for the federation. He had received "full cartons of tickets" from the Qatari authorities. Consistent testimonies indicate that the tickets taken from those intended to be distributed to Moroccan supporters were sold on the black market at 900 or even 1,000 euros per unit through identified intermediaries close to the federal member.

A fiasco that could have been avoided, as the Qatari authorities had offered the Moroccan embassy to take charge of the ticket distribution operation, but this proposal did not receive its approval, says a security source at Doha airport. "I told the Moroccans to entrust us with the tickets and of course we will make sure that all arriving passengers receive one, but they refused. Do you know why? Because they sell them on the black market, do you think I don’t know?" said the Qatari official.