CAS Upholds Appeal in Row Over Morocco Map on Jerseys

The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has upheld an appeal filed by the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) regarding jerseys worn by the Moroccan football club RS Berkane. The jerseys depicted a map of Morocco, including the disputed Western Sahara territory.

Initially, the use of these jerseys for the 2024 Confederation of African Football (CAF) Confederation Cup was approved by the CAF Interclubs Committee and later ratified by the CAF Appeals Jury. This decision led to the filing of the current appeal.

During the hearing, it was not disputed that the RS Berkane shirts displayed a map of Morocco, including the territory of Western Sahara, that does not correspond to the official map of Morocco as published by the United Nations.

The CAS Panel noted that the image depicted a message or propaganda of a political nature as it represented the assertion of a territorial dispute that remains unresolved. It underlined the prohibition on conveying content of a political nature on equipment (including shirts), as stipulated by the CAF equipment regulations and the laws of the game. Moreover, the Panel stressed that the CAF was bound to respect and implement the duty of political neutrality under provisions of the CAF Statutes and the Regulations Implementing CAF Statutes. The CAS Panel ruled that RS Berkane’s shirts were contrary to CAF regulations, as they displayed a territorial map of a political nature.

With this, the decision of the CAF Appeals Jury was set aside, with CAS clarifying that its award had no bearing on the competition’s results.