The Moroccan national team achieved victory over its guest, Gabon, 2-0, on Friday evening, in the first round of qualifiers for the 2027 African Cup of Nations finals.
Manchester United player Nassair Mazraoui scored the lead goal in the 36th minute, and Sufyan Rahimi, the Emirati Al Ain striker, added the second goal in the 84th minute.
The Moroccan national team won the first 3 points in its journey towards qualifying for the finals of the tournament, which holds its title by decision of the Confederation of African Football, which considered that its competitor in the final match of the previous edition, the Senegal national team, had withdrawn from the match, after its players left the field in objection to the arbitration and then returned minutes later to complete the confrontation, which ended in its original and extra time with Senegal winning 1-0.
With this win, the Moroccan national team leads Group A, with a goal difference over the Niger national team, which had previously won, over Lesotho.
Asharq Al-Awsat sources in the Qatar Football Association revealed that Assem Madibo’s participation against Bahrain in the “Gulf Cup 27” was based on considering the Gulf Cup matches as friendly and not official matches, and therefore the Qatari team does not consider the player’s participation to be a violation of the suspension penalty issued against him by the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA).
The sources said that the Qatari Federation had previously addressed FIFA recently to inquire about the status of the Gulf Cup matches, and requested that they be considered official matches so that Madibo could serve the suspension penalty during them, but the International Federation rejected this, and specified the official matches of the teams, in this context, as the World Cup matches, the Asian Cup, the World Cup qualifiers, and the Asian Cup qualifiers.
Based on the response that the Qatari Federation received from FIFA, the Qatari side treated the “Gulf Arab League 27” matches as not being part of the official matches during which Madibo’s penalty was implemented, which prompted it to include the player against Bahrain, considering that the matches remaining after his suspension would be implemented in subsequent official matches.
The Qatari position comes in the wake of the official protest submitted by the Bahrain Football Association to the Gulf Federation, objecting to Madibo’s participation in the match that brought together the two teams on September 24 in the Gulf Championship competitions.
According to the Bahraini protest letter, Madibo had previously been punished by the FIFA Disciplinary Committee by suspending him for five matches. The Bahraini Federation believes that the player’s absence from Qatar’s match against Bosnia and Herzegovina was an implementation of the penalty, which requires verifying the extent to which he has exhausted the entire period of suspension before participating against Bahrain.
The Bahraini Federation based its protest on Article 69/2 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code, which relates to the transfer of unexhausted World Cup suspension penalties to the team’s next official match.
It was also based on the paragraph relating to competitions in which participating teams are selected according to geographical, cultural or historical criteria, and the resulting suspension being carried over to the next official match, unless the competition regulations explicitly stipulate otherwise.
The protest also referred to Article 10/6 of the 2026 World Cup regulations, relating to the carryover of a suspension penalty that cannot be exhausted during the tournament to the team’s next official match, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the FIFA Disciplinary Code.
The Bahraini Federation believes that if it is proven that Madibo has not exhausted the suspension penalty, his participation against Bahrain means the participation of an ineligible player, based on Article 19 of the FIFA Disciplinary Code and the resulting disciplinary effects and penalties.
The Bahraini side also relied on the Gulf Cup’s regulations, which obligate the teams to implement the rules and regulations of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) and the Asian Confederation in cases for which there is no provision in the tournament regulations.
The Bahraini Federation asked the Gulf Federation to urgently verify Madibo’s eligibility to participate, and to contact FIFA and the Qatari Federation to obtain a copy of the penalty decision and any subsequent decision regarding its reduction or suspension, in addition to a statement of the matches that were counted within the implementation of the suspension.
He also demanded that the approval of the match result and its final effects be suspended until the protest is decided and the player’s eligibility is officially verified, while reserving his right to complete the reasons for the protest, submit additional documents and defenses, and exercise the legally prescribed methods of appeal.
On the other hand, the Qatari Federation adheres to the validity of its position, according to Asharq Al-Awsat sources, based on the communications it conducted with FIFA before Madibo’s participation, which it considers to have decided for it the nature of the matches during which the player’s penalty can be implemented.
The Bahraini Football Association filed an official protest against the participation of Asim Madibo, the Qatari national team player, in the confrontation that brought together the two teams, Thursday, in the first round of the Arabian Gulf Cup competitions “Gulf 27” in Jeddah, demanding that the Bahraini national team be considered a winner with a score of 3-0.
The Bahraini protest is based on the punishment imposed by FIFA on Madibo during the 2026 World Cup, by suspending him for 5 matches, after he was sent off with a direct red card for interfering with Canadian Ismael Koné, who suffered a broken leg and underwent surgery.
Madibo participated as a starter with the Qatari national team against Bahrain, which ended with Qatar winning by two unanswered goals, and he received a yellow card in the 37th minute, before completing the match.
The Bahraini Federation said in its letter that the available information indicates that the aforementioned player missed the Qatar national team’s match against the Bosnia and Herzegovina national team in compliance with the aforementioned penalty, which requires verifying the extent to which the entire penalty period has been exhausted before his participation in the Bahrain match.
The Qatari team settled the confrontation with two goals scored by Boualem Khoukhi in the 61st minute, and Hassan Al-Haydous from a penalty kick in the ninth minute of stoppage time, to score its first 3 points in the tournament.
