Bosnian Coach Halilhodzic Takes Helm of Morocco’s National Soccer Team

After several months of suspense, the Bosnian Halilhodzic is setting up camp in Morocco. With him, the contract that binds him to the FRMF commits him more with the national team and the other teams of the Moroccan football selection.

Halilhodzic’s arrival also sounds like good news for local players. He already announces his proximity to each of these teams and promises to closely monitor, with the best profile, each of these teams which, according to him, "are African champions or finalists, that is to say there are good elements". His choice to carry high the flag of the Kingdom is justified by his experiences with three great nations, namely Côte d’Ivoire, Algeria and Japan, which he managed to qualify for the World Cup. His choice, for the president of the FRMF, is therefore not insignificant, tries to explain Fouzi Lekjaâ.

To achieve the objectives assigned to him, the Bosnian is required to reside on Moroccan soil, unlike his predecessor, who was going back and forth between Senegal, where his family lived, and Morocco. Moreover, the Bosnian coach is also expected to be permanently present at the National Teams Training Center in Mâamora.

The former Nantes coach, however, wants to clarify the rumors about his salary of 800,000 dirhams, the object of all coveting and criticism, even if his predecessor was better paid than him, with 1,200,000 dirhams. For Halilhodzic, he is more in Morocco for the challenge than for the money. "I’m not here for the money, if that were the case I wouldn’t be here... at all," said Vahid Halilhodzic at his first press conference with the national media on Thursday, August 15, 2019, in Rabat, at the FRMF headquarters.

To give more weight to his profession of faith, he says he has had other more interesting offers very recently. For the coach, who has experienced war in his country, money is not the center of everything.