Latest news with #WalidRegragui
Morocco World
12 hours ago
- Sport
- Morocco World
Walid Regragui Joins World's Top Coaches at RFEF Congress in Madrid
Rabat– Morocco's national team head coach, Walid Regragui took part in the first International Coaches Congress organized by the Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) on June 20–21 in Madrid. The high-profile event brought together over 550 coaches from across the globe and featured around 20 distinguished speakers, including Regragui, alongside representatives from FIFA and UEFA. Regragui's participation highlights the growing international recognition of Moroccan coaching talent and reflects Morocco's commitment to fostering top-level sports leadership and development. During a panel discussion on the responsibilities and challenges of coaching, Regragui spoke candidly about the immense expectations that come with leading a national team in a country where football is deeply cherished. 'We carry a great responsibility because the passion for football is immense. The entire country is behind us,' he said, emphasizing the strong emotional connection between the Moroccan national team and its supporters. As the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) draws near, Regragui finds himself under increasing pressure. Morocco will host the continental tournament, and Regragui has publicly pledged to win the title on home soil. Despite the high expectations, the coach remains confident in both his leadership and the team's abilities. Reaffirming his dedication during the Madrid Congress, he stated: 'If there's someone better than me, I'll step aside. I'm the first fan of this team. I want to see Hakimi lift the trophy.' His humble and determined words resonated with fans and players alike, setting the tone for one of the most anticipated chapters in Moroccan football history. The congress also featured several prominent football figures, including Spain's head coach Luis de la Fuente, former Ecuador manager Gustavo Alfaro, and renowned Uruguayan fitness coach Profe Ortega. Key topics discussed included continuous coaching education, the evolving challenges of technical management, and the growing importance of a human-centered approach in coaching. According to the RFEF, the congress aims to emphasize the strategic role of coaches and promote education and training as fundamental drivers for the advancement of modern football. Tags: 2025 afconrfefWalid Regragui
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
How to watch Manchester City vs Wydad AC live: Stream link, TV channel, team news, prediction
Pep Guardiola's Manchester City kick off their FIFA Club World Cup competition on Wednesday as they face Wydad AC in Philadelphia. MORE — Club World Cup schedule, results, tables City have made plenty of big signings already this summer, with new additions Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders expected to play a key role in this tournament. With Kevin de Bruyne gone, plus Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker not with City's squad as they're expected to leave this summer, this new-look City side are hungry to win this competition so they can say they didn't go trophyless during the 2024-25 season and they will start the new campaign on a high. Advertisement Wydad AC hail from Casablanca, Morocco and are the huge underdogs in Group G alongside City, Juventus and Al Ain. They were the African champions in 2022 under current Morocco nation team manager Walid Regragui, and were also runners up in the CAF Champions League in 2023. They were also runners up in the newly-created African Football League in 2023. But they haven't won the Moroccan league title since 2022 and are huge outsiders to make it out of this group. How to watch Manchester City vs Wydad AC live, stream link and start time Kick off time: 12pm ET Wednesday (June 18) Venue: Lincoln Financial Field — Philadelphia TV Channel/Streaming: Watch live on DAZN, for free Manchester City team news, focus Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Tijjani Reijnders are all expected to make their debuts, while City also have Rodri back from his long-term knee injury which makes such a huge difference. Guardiola will obviously rotate his squad but City are desperate to win this title and he is likely to go all-out in attack with Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush leading the way. Mateo Kovacic is out after having Achilles surgery, while Walker, Grealish and Kalvin Phillips are all not with the squad as they are believed to be leaving City this summer. Wydad AC team news, focus There are a couple of key players to look out for as Mohamed Rayhi is a real talent in attack, plus veteran midfielder Nordin Amrabat will do his best to hold things together. Captain Jamal Harkass will have his work cut out at center back as he tries his best to marshal Erling Haaland and Co. Manchester City vs Wydad AC prediction This feels like it could get quite lopsided. City are hungry and fired up to prove the doubters wrong and this new-look side have so much individual talent and new players ready to make a mark from the start. Manchester City 5-0 Wydad AC.
The National
10-06-2025
- Sport
- The National
WAC hope corner has been turned as they fly flag for Moroccan football at Club World Cup
Were the Fifa Club World Cup, in its freshly enhanced format, not to include a participant from Morocco, the absence would be glaring. Few other countries have moved so impressively up the sport's hierarchy in the last five years. But there's an uncomfortable question confronting Wydad Athletic Club of Casablanca (WAC), as they head to the US. Are they, in their current condition, best placed to represent their nation's football renaissance? Fact is, WAC are a long way from looking like the conquerors who earned the second of Africa's four tickets to Fifa's big event by carrying off the Confederation of African Football's Champions League title in 2021-22. In many respects that triumph provided a direct impulse for perhaps Morocco's greatest six months on the world stage. The manager of that WAC side was Walid Regragui, who would, after some hurried headhunting in the late summer of 2022, become the manager of the Atlas Lions. By December, Regragui had led Morocco to a World Cup semi-final. How WAC's vast, noisy fan base long for some of that sheen to rub back on them. The club have just finished third in the domestic league, a couple of notches up from the disastrous fifth place of the previous season. Their once-routine connection with major international competition has been severed since March last year, when they exited the CAF Champions League campaign at the group stage. It's a steep fall. WAC, African champions twice in the last eight seasons, had reached at least the semi-finals of their continent's most prestigious club tournament seven times since 2016. Which is not to mention the ructions off the pitch, where the former president, the man in the position of maximum authority through those years of bounty, Said Naciri, is on trial for his alleged part in a contraband trafficking network. He denies the charges. For his successor, Hicham Ait-Menna, who assumed the presidency last year, the challenges have been many, the best formulas for re-establishing status elusive. Coaches have come and gone at a spectacular rate. Since Regragui departed, bound for sporting immortality with the national team, 10 different men have battled to measure up to his legacy. The defence of the league and continental double would be entrusted, variously, to Hussein Ammouta, later of UAE's Al Jazira; to the Tunisian, Medhi Nafti; to the Spaniard Juan Carlos Garrido; and to the Belgian Sven Vandenbroek. In 2023-24 Adil Ramzi, Faouzi Benzarti and Aziz Ben Askar all held the reins. Then, last summer, came a bold statement of intent, when the studious South African Rhulani Mokwena was hired on the back of his work at Mamelodi Sundowns, and, specifically, on the slick pass-and-move style he had developed there. Mokwena's arrival coincided with a major squad overhaul, partly necessitated by financial constraints – WAC were negotiating their way clear of a Fifa transfer ban – in which the experienced Yahya Jabrane completed the exodus of Wydad players who had been at the Qatar World Cup with Morocco. Mokwena brought in allies such as striker Cassius Mailula and winger Thembinkosi Lorch, compatriots he knew from home. But the first two months applying the Mokwena method were very mixed. WAC, whose history boasts more league titles than any Moroccan club, managed just three wins from the first eight matches. 'It's not easy coming from South Africa to Morocco,' reflected Lorch. 'WAC is a pressure-cooker for a coach,' Mokwena told the broadcaster Supersport. By the end of April, that pressure had told. Mokwena was informed he would not be seeing out the season, nor, to his great regret, testing himself against Manchester City, Juventus and Al Ain in the Club World Cup's Group G. The parting of ways frustrated Mokwena, who, while acknowledging that WAC's sluggish start to the season meant they were always playing catch-up with a buoyant Renaissance Berkane in the league title chase, felt a corner had been turned in the new year. In 2025 WAC have, at least, not lost a league fixture, albeit that too many draws were not turned into wins. Gathering up the threads of that momentum is 50-year-old Amine Benhachem, whose relationship with the club stretches back to his time there as a junior player, and who previously served WAC as an assistant coach. Since being given the main job, he has been in a hurry to make his squad CWC-ready. 'We have to get to the right level quickly,' he admitted after last month's friendlies against Sevilla and Porto, two pedigree European opponents invited to Casablanca to replicate some of what his players will face out in the US. Both visitors won narrowly, but Benhachem was encouraged by aspects of the performances and the integration of new signings. Wydad have been busy in the extra transfer window made available by Fifa to Club World Cup participants. There was speculative, but unanswered, interest in a short-term deal for Cristiano Ronaldo. What they have instead are a centre-forward, Hamza Hannouri, 27, recruited from FUS Rabat, and the Burkinabe international attacking midfielder, Stephane Aziz Ki, 29, from Tanzania's Young Africans. There is also a resonant new name on the teamsheet, a name that strongly evokes Moroccan success: Amrabat – although it is the older of the footballing brothers, Nordin, rather than Sofyan, the midfield dynamo of the Atlas Lions midfield at Qatar 2022. But Nordin Amrabat, should he find his groove, offers great creative range and huge experience. He has joined after a brief spell with Hull City in England's Championship, the eighth different league he has graced in a career that started in the Netherlands and travelled through the top divisions of Turkey, Spain, Greece, Saudi Arabia and England. He boasts 64 caps for Morocco, the last of them in 2019, and if he is now a mature 38, he remains, he says, a crowd-pleaser 'with big dreams and targets.' Nordin Amrabat has faced Juventus in the Uefa Champions League. He has, in the Premier League, taken on Pep Guardiola's City. That's a know-how that should benefit his WAC colleagues. 'We have to be excited to play, and not afraid to face top players,' says Jamal Harkass, the WAC captain, who was given his Morocco debut by Regragui earlier this season. 'Big players grow by facing other big players. We just need to stay highly focused and ambitious – and deliver a performance that represents Moroccan football in the best way possible.'
Morocco World
06-06-2025
- Sport
- Morocco World
Morocco v Tunisia: Atlas Lions Continue AFCON Preparations with North African Derby
Morocco take on Tunisia in Fès on Friday night as Walid Regragui's side step up their preparations for next year's Africa Cup of Nations on home soil. Kick-off set for 9 p.m. Moroccan time (GMT+1) at the Grand Stade de Fès, and fans can catch the action live on Arriyadia HD. The match may be classed as a friendly, but there is nothing relaxed about the mood in either camp. Expectations are high, and the Atlas Lions will want to put in a convincing performance in front of their fans. Regragui is without two key attacking players, with Brahim Diaz and Abde Ezzalzouli ruled out through injury. Their absence could open the door for younger names like Bilal El Khannouss, Elias Ben Seghir and Amir Richardson to stake a claim. Morocco's recent displays have raised questions about their attacking rhythm and overall intensity. After a flat showing in the last international window, the pressure is on to show signs of improvement, particularly with the AFCON now less than six months away. The hosts are likely to stick with a core of experienced players, including Achraf Hakimi, Nayef Aguerd and Youssef En-Nesyri. However, there is growing demand for more variety in midfield and greater fluidity in the final third. Morocco (expected XI) : Bounou; Hakimi, Yamiq, Massina, Belammari; Amrabat, Ounahi, El Khannouss; Rahimi, En-Nesyri, Ben Seghir. Prediction : Morocco 2-0 Tunisia – tight contest, but home advantage and Morocco's squad quality should make the difference. Tags: Achraf HakimiMoroccoTunisiaWalid Regraguiyassine bounou
Morocco World
02-06-2025
- Business
- Morocco World
Morocco's 40 Under 40 Gala Launches with Star-Studded Celebration in Rabat
Rabat – An exceptional gala marked the inaugural edition of Morocco's 40 Under 40 in the Moroccan capital over the weekend, with the event celebrating a new generation of national and international talent. It brought together distinguished guests and recognized 40 Moroccans and members of the diaspora under the age of 40, selected for their outstanding achievements across a wide range of sectors. The gala took place on the evening of Saturday, May 31 in the presence of high-level officials and guests, but the focus remained squarely on the laureates, individuals under 40 who represent a future already in motion. Their achievements reflect personal success and a shared momentum to shape Morocco's trajectory at home and beyond its borders. Walid Regragui, head coach of the national football team, stepped onto the stage as guest of honor and brought the room to life with a message that resonated far beyond the technicalities of football. He spoke of belief, resilience, and collective purpose. Badr Boussabat, president of Morocco's 40 Under 40, opened the evening with words that captured the spirit of the initiative. 'It is not just a celebration,' he said. 'It is a moment to recognize that these young leaders are already forming meaningful partnerships between Moroccans and members of the diaspora.' Read also: Morocco's 40 Under 40: A New Generation of Leaders Driving the Country's Transformation The gala featured several notable speeches, including from André Azoulay, advisor to King Mohammed VI, who brought a sense of continuity and national purpose to the event. Industry and Trade Minister Ryad Mezzour, Digital Transition and Administrative Reform Minister Amal El Fallah Seghrouchni, and Khalid Badou of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University also shared their perspectives, each one anchoring the evening in a broader conversation about Morocco's future. The atmosphere was one of sincerity rather than spectacle. Mentors of the program, 40 figures who supported the selected laureates, also received the recognition they deserve. The initiative owes much to its partners. Casablanca Finance City, Dislog Group, Technopark, Accenture, and ACS all played a key role in supporting this ambitious first edition. The gala itself took place at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, a partner that continues to host and encourage spaces for innovation and exchange. With this first edition, Morocco's 40 Under 40 steps into a decade-long journey. By 2030, the program looks to bring together 200 Moroccan and diaspora leaders into a unique network, ready to serve the country's strategic shifts and global aspirations. Tags: 40 under 40MoroccoMorocco 40 under 40Walid Regragui
