Morocco Coach Halilhodzic Faces Challenge as Dual Nationals Delay National Team Commitments

This hesitation of dual nationals worries the national coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, reports the daily Al Massae. One of the players mentioned by the same newspaper is the FC Twente striker, Rafik Zakhnini, on loan from Fiorentina to the Dutch club.

After giving his in-principle agreement, he has still not decided between Morocco and Norway, his country of birth. The FC Twente striker has played for the various youth national teams. Worse, Zakhnini, in a statement to the press, said he was in no hurry to choose the selection he wishes to play for.

The other case that also worries the Bosnian coach is the Nîmes player Yassine Benrahou. According to the same source, he admitted to the French press that he had never chosen to wear the Moroccan jersey, even though he had been called up by the coach, Vahid Halilhodzic, to participate in the 2021 CAN qualifiers.

For the record, Benrahou holds triple Moroccan, French and Algerian nationality.