Morocco is not ready to let go. Despite recent clarifications from the German brand Adidas following Morocco’s complaint regarding the design of Algeria’s new jerseys, the Moroccan authorities are still threatening the Algerian Football Federation and the three-stripe brand.
Morocco claims the paternity of the Zellige appearing on the jersey of Algeria
Inspired by the Zellige of Morocco, the new jerseys of the Algerian national team, unveiled at the beginning of September, continue to cause a lot of ink and saliva to flow. A few weeks ago, the Moroccan authorities, in this case the Ministry of Youth, Culture and Communication, seized the Adidas brand through a lawyer to inform it of their disapproval of the design of the new tunics of the Fennecs of Algeria.
Rabat indeed accuses Algeria and Adidas of having plagiarized a Moroccan cultural heritage “Zellige” without asking for permission beforehand. In this logic, the Moroccan authorities had ordered the leaders of the German firm to withdraw these new collections of Algerian jerseys from the market. Faced with this situation, the German brand with the three stripes, had provided clarifications without making any changes to the new Algerian jerseys.
And a few days before the start of the 22nd edition of the Qatar 2022 World Cup, the Moroccan Minister of Youth, Culture and Communication, Mohamed Mehdi Bensaid stepped up to the plate again to raise his voice. Invited in the program “Al-Isaba” on the platform “Kifach”, Bensaid further threatened the Algerians by qualifying this problem as the battle of Zellige. The minister revealed that following their complaints, Adidas asked them to wait until the end of the World Cup in order to start a frank and sincere dialogue to find a solution to this cultural conflict.
Morocco demands the withdrawal of new Algerian jerseys from the market
But for Bensaid, the only possible outcome is the recognition that the geometric shapes used in the equipment of the Fennecs are inspired by Moroccan Zellige. These Algerian jerseys must simply be withdrawn from the market. Otherwise, Rabat plans to take the case to court.
