From Harry Awurumibe, just back from Morocco
As Nigerians at home and diaspora continue to savour the 3-2 comeback victory of Super Falcons over rivals, Atlas Lionesses, many of their compatriots living in Morocco are still counting their loses after they were denied access to final of the 13th CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) 2024 at the Olympic Stadium in Rabat on Saturday night.
Prompt News reports that no fewer than 200 Nigerian fans living in the Kingdom of Morocco who thronged the stadium in Rabat at the weekend from cities like Casablanca, Mohammédia, Agadir, Marrakech, Fez, Kenitra, Tangier, Berkane, Oujda and others, were denied entry into the stadium after travelling to Rabat to watch the game live from far and near.
Most of the fans of Nigeria extraction living in Morocco, who came all the way to cheer the Super Falcons victory at the Olympic Stadium Rabat, had their tickets while many who sought to buy tickets at the stadium were disappointed as the Moroccan authorities bought all the tickets available for the important match to deny the Nigerian team any kind of moral support in the stadium.
Leaders of Nigerian Community in Morocco who enthusiastically mobilised their compatriots in the host country to turn up in their numbers to cheer the Super Falcons have expressed their sadness for not watching the WAFCON 2024 high-stake final in Rabat last Saturday night despite driving long distances to the match venue.
According to Mr. Christopher Nwabuzor, one of the prime movers of the Nigerian Community Casablanca who went to Rabat in the company of three other members, is still hurt that they did not watch the game because they were told that tickets were not available online and offline.
Said he: “It was unbelievable that the Moroccans can deny the supporters of the opposing team entry into the packed-stadium on the night.
“Even some of our people who had tickets were unable to enter the stadium to watch the game while some of us who came to the match venue to buy our tickets because we cold not also buy online did not see tickets to buy as we were told that the tickets have been sold out before the match day, which I believe was part of the plan to deny Nigerian fans entry into the stadium to cheer our girls”.
Nwabuzor, who is a business owner in Casablanca, said he and three of his compatriots who travelled from Casablanca to Rabat had to drive back to Casablanca disappointed without watching the WAFCON epic final on Saturday night, pointing out that he was utterly disgusted that they have to waste their time and money to travel to Rabat without watching Super Falcons play.
Also, Dennis Nwachukwu Ihebia, a Casablanca-based Nigerian who drove his car in the company of three other Nigerians to Rabat, to watch the WAFCON 2024 final at Olympic Stadium Rabat on Saturday night, lamented not been able to buy tickets at the match venue after they could not buy tickets online earlier.
Said he: “I am sad that I and my fellow Nigerians living in the Kingdom of Morocco came out in our numbers on Saturday night (July 26) to support Nigeria’s Super Falcons in their match against the Atlas Lionesses of Morocco, unfortunately we did not watch the game in Rabat. After waiting for hours at Olympic Stadium Rabat premises without procuring match tickets and unable to access the stands, we travelled back to Casablanca disappointed.
“Sadly, it has become recurring decimal that whenever a Nigerian team is playing in Morocco, Nigerians living in the country will be denied the opportunity to come to the stadium to support our teams. It happened in the WAFCON 2022 edition also held in Morocco. It has happened again this time around and will also happen next year when Morocco hosts another WAFCON.”
The same sadness was expressed by Eniola Esther Adeyemi and Olayemi Abdulkareem, who came all the way from Oudja; Lauretta Oyamunugha, Faith Ijeoma, and Musa Ibrahim, who travelled from Mekmes and Mohammédia who could not gain access to the stands to cheer the Super Falcons because they were unable to buy tickets to enter the stadium.
The disappointed Nigerians questioned the repeated actions of the Moroccan football authorities to always deny rival supporters access to watch their teams play against their Moroccan opposition, especially in competitions organised by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) like the WAFCON and AFCON.
“I can not understand why CAF will keep quiet while Moroccan football authorities keep denying the opponents’ supporters entry into the stadium to cheer their teams even in CAF-organised competitions, another Nigerian football supporter in Morocco said after he could not watch Super Falcons match at Olympic Stadium Rabat on Saturday night.
The Nigerians have, therefore, called on Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to henceforth intervene in the continued denial of Nigerian fans living in Morocco the opportunity to throng the stadium on match days to support the Nigerian teams playing CAF competitions in Morocco.
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“NFF should rise up to its responsibilities by going a step further to always procure match tickets in bulk from the match organisers and make it available to Nigerian fans who are willing to buy it from the NFF to watch Nigerian teams in Morocco. They should not always leave their supporters to be denied the opportunity to buy tickets of matches involving Nigerian teams in foreign countries “, Nwabuzor, a top official of Nigerian Community in Morocco insists.
Recall that Nigeria came from behind to beat Morocco 3-2 in the final of the 13th WAFCON at Olympic Stadium Rabat on Saturday night and many Nigerians residing in Morocco were unable to watch the game in Rabat after they were denied the opportunity to buy match tickets by the Moroccan authorities.
