Barca cancel friendly in Morocco after Ceuta border crisis

What the report says

Barcelona have cancelled a planned pre-season friendly in Morocco amid the continuing border crisis involving Ceuta, the Spanish enclave on the North African coast. The BBC Sport report says the match against local club Ittihad Riadi Tangier, which had been set for 15 August in north-western Morocco, will not go ahead.

In a statement, Barcelona said the club believed it would be inappropriate to play the fixture given the current uncertainty and circumstances. BBC Sport reported that the cancellation is linked to tensions surrounding Ceuta, where a large number of migrants crossed from Morocco into Spanish territory last week, prompting diplomatic friction among European Union states. The article notes that many of those migrants have since returned to Morocco, although thousands were still thought to remain in Ceuta at the time.

The decision comes during Barcelona’s pre-season preparations under Hansi Flick, after a training camp in England that also saw another friendly, against Preston North End, called off. The club is still scheduled to play Nottingham Forest in Udine on Saturday and Egypt’s Al Ahly on 19 August before beginning its La Liga title defence against Elche on 23 August. The cancellation underscores how wider political and border tensions can affect sporting schedules during the summer build-up to the season.