The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) have reportedly lodged a complaint to the Confederation of African Football (CAF) over the selection of North African referees for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations quarter-final clash between hosts Morocco and Cameroon in Rabat on Friday, Afrosport reports.
The Moroccan football governing body in a statement, expressed its concern that the selected centre referee is from Egypt and the VAR official is from Algeria, two countries who are vying for the title and will also participate in the quarter-finals against Nigeria and Ivory Coast respectively.
Egypt are record seven-time AFCON champions, last tasting success in 2010 while Algeria are two-time champions, winning of last in 2019.
Morocco on the other hand have won the AFCON just once but dates all the way back to 1976, and will want to use their advantage as 2025 AFCON hosts to break the jinx.
However, having a referee from rival countries, particularly Algeria, which currently has strained diplomatic relations with Morocco over the disputed territory of Western Sahara, will be seen as controversial for this match.
The FRMF wants CAF to resolve the matter swiftly to guarantee fairness of the encounter. Whoever wins the tie in Rabat will face either Algeria or Nigeria in the semi-finals.
