Morocco’s AFCON Squad Shocks: World Cup Stars Left Out

This competition, which will take place from January 13 to February 11, will not see the participation of several players who were part of the Atlas Lions’ epic journey at the World Cup in Qatar. What exactly are they being blamed for? Either a loss of competitiveness or injuries preventing them from participating.

This absence concerns Zakaria Aboukhlal of Toulouse FC and Abdelhamid Sabiri of Al-Feiha, both goalscorers during the World Cup in Qatar. They will not participate in the AFCON due to injuries that required surgical intervention. They are therefore in convalescence.

This will also be the case for Reda Tagnaouti of Maghreb de Fès and Anas Zarouri of Burnley, whom the coach blames for a drop in form within their respective clubs.

Here is the complete list of the 55 pre-selected players:

Goalkeepers: Yassine Bounou, Munir El Kajoui, El Mehdi Benabid, Youssef El Motie, Anas Zniti, Amine El Ouaad.

Defenders: Achraf Hakimi, Achraf Dari, Chadi Riad, Ayoub El Amloud, Adam Masina, Noussair Mazraoui, Nayef Aguerd, Ghanem Saiss, Yunis Abdelhamid, Jawad El Yamiq, Yahya Attiat Allah, Abdelkabir Abqar, Badr Benoun, Mohamed Chibi, Hamza El Moussaoui, Omar El Hilali, Samy Mmaee.

Midfielders: Bilal El Khannouss, Azzeddine Ounahi, Amine Harit, Yahya Jabrane, Michael Amir Richardson, Benjamin Bouchouari, Selim Amallah, Ilias Chair, Youssef Maleh, Neil El Aynaoui, Sofyan Amrabat, Yassine Kechta, Oussama El Azzouzi.

Forwards: Ismael Saibari, Youssef En-Nesyri, Ayoub El Kaabi, Hakim Ziyach, Tarik Tissoudali, Sofiane Diop, Abdessamad Ezzalzouli, Walid Cheddira, Ibrahim Salah, Sofiane Boufal, Abderrazak Hamdallah, Ilias Akhomach, Soufiane Rahimi, Nabil Alioui, Noureddine Amrabat, Rayan Mmaee, Mourad Batna, Amine Adli, Munir El Haddadi.