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Rabat – The Technical Director at Morocco’s Royal Football Federation (FRMF), Osian Roberts, presented the various national teams’ new coaches at a press conference.
The conference took place on Monday, February 10, at the Mohammed VI Football Complex in Sale, near Rabat.
Moroccan football legend Noureddine Naybet will take up a post managing a technical committee at the federation, aiming to coach players and improve their performance.
Naybet, who spent most of his 17-year professional career with Spanish club Deportivo de la Coruna, played a record 115 matches with the Atlas Lions, representing Morocco in two World Cups (1994 and 1998) and six African Cup of Nations (CAN) tournaments (1992, 1998, 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2006).
The Moroccan federation named France’s Bernard Simondi as coach of the U23 national team, with the former Moroccan international Zakaria Aboub as an assistant coach.
Simondi played for several French clubs in the 1970s and 1980s. In his coaching career, starting in 1986, the French trainer has managed clubs in Saudi Arabia, France, Tunisia, Algeria, and Qatar. Simondi also coached the national teams of Guinea, Benin, and Burkina Faso.
His assistant, Aboub, played for clubs in Morocco, France, and the UAE. He also represented Morocco between 2004 and 2007.
Young squads
FRMF’s technical director entrusted the U20 squad to Joao Filipe Aroso from Portugal. The coach worked as an assistant manager for the Portuguese national team between 2010 and 2015.
Aroso will have retired Moroccan football player Jamal Alioui as an assistant. Alioui’s career as a player lasted 15 years, from 2001 to 2016. The defender played for several clubs in France, Italy, Turkey, Qatar, and Morocco. As a coach, Alioui managed a few small French clubs between 2016 and 2019.
For the U17 national team, Roberts hired Spanish manager Sergio Piernas. Former Moroccan international Badr El Kaddouri will assist the Spaniard.
Piernas, after gaining experience in Spain as an assistant or technical manager, earned his first head managing position in 2018, coaching Saudi club Al-Ettifaq. The new position at FMRF will be his second post as head coach.
El Kaddouri, who will be assisting the Spanish coach, has never held a managerial position before. After starting his career playing at Wydad Casablanca between 2000 and 2002, El Kaddouri left for Ukraine, playing for the Ukrainian capital’s team Dynamo Kyiv until his retirement in 2013. El Kaddouri played for the Atlas Lions in 46 games between 2002 and 2012.
The youngest national football squad, the U15 team, will have Tarek Makhnass as a head coach, assisted by Rachid Rokki. Rokki is a former Atlas Lions player. He played 22 games for the Moroccan team between 1998 and 2002. He also played for several clubs in Morocco, Spain, and Qatar.
Women’s teams
American coach Kelly Lindsey will be in charge of Morocco’s women’s selection. Lindsey, who had a short career of six years as a player, started coaching local US clubs in 2006. Between 2016 and 2019, Lindsey was the head manager of Afghanistan’s national women’s team.
The American manager will have four Moroccan assistants: Fatiha Lassiri, Insaf Hannouk, Zineb El Barouri, and Nadia Jilaidi.
Meanwhile, Lamia Boumehdi will coach the U17 women’s team. Boumehdi played for several clubs in Norway and Italy. She also played in the women’s CAN in 2000 with the Moroccan women’s team. Boumehdi was the head coach of the Wydad Casablanca women’s team between 2015 and 2016, before starting to work at the FRMF.
