Morocco’s Soccer Chief Cites African Football Challenges for Early AFCON Exit

"After the exploit of the Moroccan national team at the World Cup in Qatar, it was not easy for the players and the technical staff to quickly come back down to earth and compete for the continental title. African football has its physical, technical peculiarities and living conditions that make the mission of the teams difficult," explained Fouzi Lekjaa in an interview with the Egyptian channel "On Time", estimating that the Moroccan players did not have a winning mentality before their entry into the continental competition.

And to continue: "As players and technicians, I think the Moroccan team has the best qualifications on the continent, and returning to this continental competition after the exploit of the World Cup has been difficult. I asked Hani Abu Reda, president of the Egyptian Union, for advice in this area due to his many experiences with the Pharaohs in continental competitions, and I joked that I would appoint him to the technical staff of Walid Regragui."

The president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation also spoke about the evolution of Moroccan football. "We have not only focused our efforts on the development of the Moroccan senior national team, but we have also developed Moroccan football horizontally... Moroccan clubs have progressed to the point that two Moroccan clubs have played the African Super Cup, and the return of Moroccan teams to compete for continental titles is natural. What bothered us in Morocco was the gap of several years between the clubs and the national teams to participate and compete in continental and global competitions."

Fouzi Lekjaa added: "The absence of the Moroccan national team from the World Cup for twenty years before the 2018 World Cup in Russia, and the distance from these continental and global participations are a key factor in limiting the results." The president of the governing body of Moroccan football also welcomed the qualification for the World Cup of four categories of the Moroccan national team in a single year.