The president of the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) Walid Sadi revealed on Sunday that he was going to «boycott the CAF Awards ceremony», scheduled for Monday December 11, 2023, in Marrakech. The official explained that he had made this decision, notified according to him to CAF two days ago, in «solidarity with Riyad Mahrez». The latter was set aside from the list of nominees for the title of best African footballer. Atlas Lions goalkeeper Yassine Bounou was also not shortlisted by the CAF competition. «No Algerian will attend the ceremony», Walid Sadi told Algerian media. Algerian coach Abdelhak Benchikha is on the list of finalists for the best African coach award, alongside Moroccan coach Walid Regragui and his Senegalese counterpart Aliou Cissé. Echoroukonline had, moreover, described Benchikha as «a friend of the Moroccan Fouzi Lekjaa». The Algerian decision to boycott the 2023 edition of the CAF Awards does not come as a surprise. Indeed, Rabah Madjer and Lakhdar Belloumi, two former Algerian football stars, had declined the invitation from the Confederation of African Football to attend the previous ceremony, organized on July 21, 2022, in Rabat, on the sidelines of the women's CAN. These statements come a few days after some Algerian media accused the president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), Fouzi Lekjaa, of having orchestrated the exclusion of the captain of Algeria's Fennecs, Ryad Mahrez, from the latest list of the three nominees for the title of best African footballer 2022-2023.
