One of the images that attracted the most attention during the celebration of the Sevilla squad and coaching staff for the Europa League won at the Stadion Köln of Cologne was the strange flag carried by Munir el Haddadi. Logic invited us to think that Munir would carry the flag of Spain, his country of birth, or of Morocco, where his origins are, but no. The Sevilla player decided to carry a flag unknown to many. I know It was about the Amazigh flag that represents the Berber identity.
The Berbers are a group of peoples belonging to North Africa. Historically they have settled in territories from the Canary Islands to Egypt, from West to East, and from the Mediterranean coast to the Sahel, from North to South. They are also known as imazighen, amazigh singular, and the flag that Munir wore yesterday was made official at the First Amazigh World Congress held in Tafira, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria in 1997.
Its three colors each represent a prominent part of the existing landscape in the Berber lands. The blue reflects the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, the green the mountains and the yellow the desert sand. Also, the red symbol represents “free man” which is precisely the translation of the word Amazigh.
With this little gesture Munir el Haddadi wanted to remember his origins, unknown to many, in one of the most important moments of his career. This is not the first time we have seen this flag in a celebration of a Spanish club title. Ibrahim Affelay, also of Moroccan descent, already surprised locals and strangers when paraded with the Amazigh flag in the celebration at the Camp Nou for the Champions League won at Wembley in 2011.