World Cup 2022 - Morocco: after the success, suspicions of ticket trafficking
In Morocco, an alleged illicit ticket resale affair is casting a shadow. The FRMF promises to get to the bottom of it through an internal commission
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In Morocco, the World Cup success has been celebrated in style. The Atlas Lions were welcomed home as heroes in Rabat by an entire nation proud of their historic 4th-place finish. But an affair has tarnished Morocco's World Cup campaign. It concerns the free distribution of entry tickets for the semi-final against France. Federation officials stand accused of having, it is said, favoured members of their own families. The affair has been widely denounced on social media by disappointed Moroccans.
At its latest meeting, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) announced that it had taken the matter in hand. "Mr Lekjaa (the FRMF president, editor's note) condemned the bad practices of certain individuals from within the national football family. On that occasion, he set up a commission made up of members of the FRMF's independent commissions", the governing body said.
Verdict expected in January
The Moroccan federation say this commission "will be tasked with shedding full light on this matter and taking the necessary decisions against anyone involved in these acts that damage the image of the national game". The FRMF will present its conclusions at the next meeting of its executive committee, on 16 January.
All signs point to sanctions being handed down to those at fault. This is all the more so as the involvement of certain federation officials in the illicit resale of tickets for Morocco's matches is said to be established through audio recordings and testimony from fans.
The result of these practices: hundreds of Moroccan supporters found themselves stranded at Doha airport, unable to attend the matches because they did not have the coveted ticket. In protest, they refused to leave the airport. The situation prompted the Qatari authorities to cancel the other flights arriving from Casablanca.
The former Raja president and now member of parliament, Mohamed Boudrika, had notably been implicated. But he defended himself immediately, arguing that he had supervised the distribution of the batches they had received.
Mohamed HADJI