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Rabat – Morocco’s Fath Union Sport de Rabat (FUS) announced on August 11 the appointment of Nawal Khalifa as the Deputy President of the association’s football section.
The announcement has particular significance since there is no woman who has ever held a managerial position in Morocco’s top league, the Botola Pro. The club specified in a press statement that “this is not foreign to the spirit of FUS Omnisport which does not establish a distinction between genres.”
Khalifa’s responsibilities will include growing the club’s competitiveness through a more “dynamic recruitment and training policy,” as well as supervising young people’s sport education, for which the association’s board of directors asked Khalifa to “pay great attention to the training of young people and the emergence of talents.”
The announcement elicited a largely positive reaction, both from the fans of the team as well as its rivals. One person wished “her the best of luck and success in this mission, and we as Fathi fans are happy for Mrs. Nawal to assume this position,” while another praised the club’s focus on “composition and talent discovery.”
Outside of football, she has previously worked as the director of the finance department at the National Office for Electricity and Drinking Water (ONEE).
Khalifa first joined FUS as an assistant treasurer back in 2008, while also serving as a member of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) between 2009 and 2014. She is replacing Hamza El Hajoui, the former deputy chairman of the FUS football section. For his part, El Hajoui will remain onboard on the FUS executive committee.
FUS was founded in 1946, and as such remains one of the oldest sports clubs in the country. The club has won numerous titles in Moroccan tournaments. FUS first major win goes back to the 1967 Throne Cup, also coming out on top at the 1973, 1976, 1995, 2010, and 2014 iterations of the event. It also won the 2010 Confederation Cup, and the Morocco D1 Championship in 2016.
