Rabat – The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) announced on February 29 the appointment of Tarik Sektioui as head coach of Morocco’s U-23 olympic team, who will be replacing Issame Charai.
Sektioui is a Moroccan former footballer who played in the right-wing position. He played in the Netherlands for the most of his professional career, spending eight seasons with the Dutch football clubs Willem II, AZ Alkmaar, and RKC.
During this period, he made a total of 142 appearances and scored 29 goals in Netherland’s top flight Eredivisie football league. In Portugal, he won several titles with FC Porto.
The player also represented the Moroccan national football team at the 2008 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON).
Sektioui started his managerial career in 2013. He won the Moroccan Throne Cup in 2016 with Maghreb de Fes and the CAF Confederation Cup with RS Berkane in the 2019-20 season.
According to FRMF, the replacement of the Olympic team’s coach is in line with the National Teams Committee’s new strategy, which calls for collaboration and communication amongst all national teams’ technical staff.
The change comes ahead of the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which will take place between July 26 and August 11.
November 11, 2022 marked Charai‘s official debut as the Olympic national team’s manager. Under his management, the squad won the African Nations Championship in Morocco last year and secured a spot at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
However, the football federation decided to replace the team’s coach, due to its unimpressive performance in recent friendlies and their two straight losses to Danish and Iraqi sides.
As part of the national team’s preparations for the Olympic Games, Sektioui is anticipated to make his debut as head coach of the Olympic squad in the forthcoming friendlies against Wales and Ukraine on March 22 and 26.
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