After settling dispute over his trip to Algeria, Moroccan national team changes its mind

The Moroccan team will travel to Algiers on Friday to compete in the African Cup of Nations for locals, after announcing earlier Thursday that they were absent due to the host country closing its airspace to Moroccan aircraft.

“The Moroccan team is heading to Algiers for the African Cup of Nations from Sale airport,” a Moroccan diplomatic source said in a statement to Agence France-Presse.

The source did not specify whether the national team’s aircraft would fly directly to Algeria or pass through another country, since the latter closed its airspace to Moroccan aircraft for more than a year.

The Moroccan Football Federation announced on Thursday morning that its national team was absent from the tournament as its flight was not cleared from Rabat-Sale Airport to Constantine Airport by Royal Air Maroc, the official carrier of the national teams.

For his part, Moroccan Federation spokesman Mohamed Magrouf said: “The players are training and we will travel as soon as we get a license from the African Union sufficient for the flight that will carry the team … we have not yet received any licenses.”

Source: “Wakalat”