Morocco Appoints Belgian Chris Van Puyvelde as National Technical Director

The 62-year-old technician was until recently the technical director of China, a position he left in June. Previously, he held the same position in Belgium from 2015 to 2018 and has been a manager or assistant coach in several clubs since 1993. Chris Van Puyvelde was introduced at a ceremony held at the Mohammed VI complex.

Speaking on the occasion, the new official stressed the need for respect towards everyone working in football, teamwork and the need to observe before recruiting. "We also need to bring together the people who want to support this magnificent country," he said, adding: "In my philosophy, the players are the norm and around them we need to create a platform with all the people who want to help them succeed in their careers."

For his part, the president of the FRMF, Fouzi Lekjaa, outlined the missions assigned to the new management, which are part of the new vision for the development of Moroccan football. In this sense, he revealed the intention to lower the starting age of training, which is currently 15 years old, to bring it back to 11-12 years old.

It is also a question of accompanying the clubs in their work of supervising the young people and of equipping them all with training centers, he said, advocating the establishment at the level of the DTN of a cell exclusively in charge of the management of this type of center. The main objective of the DTN will be to inscribe the dynamics that the national football is experiencing in sustainability, durability and total professionalism, insisted the official.