Morocco’s Football Chief Explains Ziyech’s Absence from Africa Cup of Nations Squad

"We had decided to give him (Hakim Ziyech) time to come back with a new mindset," said Fouzi Lekjaa on Radio Mars, recalling that the former coach of the Atlas Lions had not selected the Moroccan international during the 2017 CAN held in Gabon. "We expected Ziyech to be the player who guides the national team and leads it to victories, and not the one who waits to receive the ball from the other players without making the slightest effort, and I don’t want to go into those details," added the President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF).

The relationship between the Moroccan national team coach and the Chelsea midfielder has deteriorated in recent months. As a result, Hakim Ziyech is not on the list of the Atlas Lions for CAN 22, which will be held from January 9 to February 6, 2022 in Cameroon. A few weeks earlier, Vahid Halilhodzic had excluded the former Ajax star from the 2022 World Cup qualifiers.