When you lack achievements at home, you celebrate your neighbor’s failures. Nothing captures the state-sponsored reaction to Morocco’s AFCON final defeat better than this saying.
As Senegal lifted the trophy after a controversial match, thousands of Algerians, mostly young people, poured into the streets, honking car horns, lighting fireworks, and rejoicing as if their own team had won. Similar scenes unfolded in 2023 when South Africa knocked Morocco out of the tournament.
These celebrations had nothing to do with football. They were the clearest evidence yet of how effectively Algeria’s regime has used media and education to indoctrinate citizens into hostility toward Morocco.
Since the tandem of Tebboune and Chengriha assumed control of the Algerian state, Algiers has embraced overt warmongering rhetoric toward Morocco, a reflection of its ongoing identity and legitimacy crisis.
Under the guise of false victimhood, the regime has kept the borders sealed, cut gas supplies flowing through Morocco, closed its airspace to Moroccan aircraft, imposed visa restrictions on Moroccans, and launched diplomatic offensives that have largely backfired.
Since Algeria cut ties in 2020, its media has violated basic journalism ethics, going so far as to censor the word “Morocco” and even blur out the Moroccan flag. The situation has reached absurd extremes when an Algerian citizen in the restive Kabylie region received a prison sentence simply for wearing a Moroccan football jersey, accused of “undermining state security.”
This environment has fostered collective narcissism, where national self‑worth depends not on real accomplishments but on the humiliation of the perceived rival. In such a climate, Morocco’s loss to Senegal becomes an emotional victory and an outlet for frustration or a manufactured moment of unity. Some Algerian media even described Morocco’s defeat as a form of “divine justice,” an unmistakable sign of the psychological relief this narrative provides.
When national identity is built on the negation of the Other, the neighbor’s sports misfortune becomes a national celebration. But such celebrations are not a show of strength, they are an admission that the state has few genuine sources of pride to offer its people.
Meanwhile, Morocco continues to achieve results on the pitch: 8th in the FIFA world ranking, AFCON finalist, World Cup semifinalist, U‑17 World Cup champion after defeating Argentina, and Arab Cup winner, among other recent successes.
