Algeria Boycotts CAF Ceremony in Morocco in Solidarity with Mahrez

The President of the Algerian Football Federation Walid Sadi announced on Sunday his boycott of the Confederation of African Football (CAF) awards ceremony, which is scheduled to be held Monday in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.

The Algerian Al-Hayat channel quoted Sadi as saying: “I will not attend the African Ballon d’Or awards ceremony, and I informed CAF of my absence two days ago.”

هام

🔴 #وليد_صادي في تصريح حصري للـ #حياة : لن احضر حفل توزيع جوائر #الكرة_الذهبية الافريقية و أبلغت الكاف بغيابي منذ يومين

🔴 وليد #صادي للحياة : باذن الله لن يكون أي جزائري في الحفل تضامنا مع #محرز pic.twitter.com/S6x5c8IAQT

— El Hayat TV (@elhayatonline) December 10, 2023

Sadi stressed, “No Algerian will be at the ceremony in solidarity with Riyad Mahrez,” who was excluded from the competition for the Best African Player of the Year award for the year 2023.

A few days ago, the Confederation of African Football announced a shortlist of three players nominated to win the African Ballon d'Or, which consisted of Nigerian Victor Osmin, the Italian Napoli striker, and Egyptian Mohamed Salah, the English Liverpool star, in addition to the right-back of Paris Saint-Germain, France, and the Moroccan national team, Achraf Hakimi.

Algerian Riyad Mahrez was not in this list despite winning a historic hat-trick with his former team, Manchester City, by combining the Champions League, the English Premier League, and the FA Cup.

After an exceptional season with City, Mahrez decided to change the atmosphere and joined Al-Ahly Saudi Arabia during the recent summer transfer period.

Meantime, his former coach at Manchester City Pep Guardiola send a message carrying an indirect response to CAF.

Guardiola regretted Mahrez's departure during his press conference, saying: "I wanted Mahrez to stay with us, and I also wanted Gundogan, but they preferred to leave, perhaps in search of a new challenge or for family reasons."

He added, "Whatever the reasons, thanks to them. We would not have achieved the championships we achieved without them. This would have been impossible."