Morocco’s Regragui Sets Sights on AFCON Trophy, Aiming to End 48-Year Drought

Walid Regragui displays his determination to bring the trophy back to Morocco. A trophy that the Atlas Lions have not won since 1976. "We have important goals. At the Mohammed VI Football Complex there is a photo of the national team that was the last to win the Africa Cup in 1976. Every day, when the players come here, they look at the photo and are inspired. My goal as a coach is not to remove this photo, but to put a new photo of the next winners here," he said in an interview with the American channel CNN.

A legitimate ambition after a successful World Cup. Morocco became the first African and Arab country to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time, after beating great football nations like Spain and Portugal in Qatar. An unprecedented feat accomplished by the Moroccan technician, to whom the management of the team was entrusted only three months before the tournament. "Only a crazy coach like me would accept this position three months before the World Cup. No European coach would have accepted to coach a national team, and I don’t think there is a local coach who would have dared to take up the challenge," said the one who is part of the golden generation of Moroccan football that reached the AFCON final in 2004.

To read: Morocco Coach Regragui Disappointed After 1-1 Draw with Ivory Coast in CAN-2023 Prep Match

Regragui also confided in his long-term goals. "The dream for me as a coach is that the future Messi or the future Maradona be born in Morocco and that he has the necessary educators and infrastructure in Morocco to raise his level and become a legendary player," he explained.

Placed in Group F, the Atlas Lions will take the field on Wednesday, January 17. They will challenge Tanzania at the Laurent Pokou stadium in San Pedro, before playing a new match against the Democratic Republic of Congo on Sunday, January 21, always at the same stadium and finally Zambia, the 2012 winner, on Wednesday, January 24.