A few days before Algeria hosts the 7th edition of the African Nations Championship of Local Football Players (CHAN), its news agency APS published, Friday, a dispatch reviewing the history of the tournament. A history that dates back to the first edition organized in 2009 in Côte d’Ivoire.
However, the Algerian news agency has avoided making reference to the organization by Morocco of this competition or even its victory. The agency APS recalled that the Democratic Republic of Congo had won the first edition of the competition, and explained that the second edition, which took place in Sudan in 2011, had seen the victory of the Tunisian team.
She added that the third edition of the CHAN was hosted by South Africa in 2014 and the title went to Libya, following with Rwanda which hosted the fourth edition in 2016 during which the Democratic Republic of Congo won its second continental title.
The Algerian news agency completely skipped the fifth edition that Morocco hosted in 2018 and which allowed the Atlas Lions to win their first title, after beating the Nigerian team by four goals to 0. The APS was also content to refer to the organization by Cameroon, the sixth edition in 2021, without mentioning that the Moroccan national team had won the title for the second consecutive time, after beating the Malian team (2-0) in the final match.
The agency said that “at the kick-off of the seventh edition, scheduled for January 13 at the brand new stadium in Baraki (Algiers) during the opening match between Algeria and Libya, the Arab teams have managed to obtain four titles out of six,” without mentioning that two titles were won by the Moroccan national team.
The APS is not at its first attempt. It had previously ignored the historic achievements of the Atlas Lions at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, deliberately ignoring the games of the Moroccan national team in its coverage of the World Cup.
It should be noted that the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) had linked the participation of the national team of under 23 years, which now replaces that of local players, to the opening of Algerian airspace to transport the Mountakhab via a direct flight between Rabat to Constantine.
