Rising Star Yassine Kechta Breaks Through at Le Havre, Chooses Morocco for International Career

While he was not in the plans of former coach Paul Le Guen, Yassine Ketcha revealed his talent after the arrival in June 2020 of a new management team composed of Jean-Michel Roussier (president), Mathieu Bodmer (sports director) and Mohamed El Kharraze (assistant sports director). The 22-year-old Franco-Moroccan quickly gained the trust of the new coach Luka Elsner. In the space of one season (2022-2023), the number 8 of the Havre team left the reserve (N3) for Ligue 2. After a fibula fracture on April 1, 2023 against Pau, which kept him away from the field for more than 4 months, Kechta has joined his teammates under the orders of Didier Digard, and has gradually established himself as one of the key pieces of the Norman collective.

Due to this injury, the young 22-year-old player missed the U23 AFCON with Morocco. A blow for him. "Injuries in football, honestly it’s very difficult, it’s hard to digest and manage. At first, I took it badly sincerely, it was very hard, because you don’t tell yourself and you don’t realize that it’s going to be so long...," he explains in an interview with Foot Mercato. The midfielder considers himself "a fairly versatile profile" who can make the difference thanks to his technical qualities, despite his small stature. "I always try to have that little bit of anticipation over the opponent. With my build, I can’t necessarily make the difference in terms of power, so I constantly work on this anticipation."

The native of Gennevilliers is now a pillar of Didier Digard’s collective and tries to do his best to pull the team upwards. Fifteenth in the standings, Le Havre faces OL this Sunday as part of the 8th day of L1. A decisive match to win at all costs: "We’re going to push, give everything not to make it easy for them. They have obvious qualities, but we have our strengths, we have to rely on that to go get a good result," said the Moroccan international who recently made his debut with the Atlas Lions. "It’s an extraordinary feeling, everyone was happy for me, my friends, my family. I was happy and proud too, it’s an accomplishment."

The young player supports that