Rabat – Fouzi Lekjaa, President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), said earlier today that Hakim Ziyech will be part of the Moroccan national team during the 2022 World Cup.
Speaking to MFM Radio’s “Decryptage” program, Lekjaa claimed that all the players that the national team needs for the international competition will be present with the Atlas Lions in Qatar.
In addition to stressing that Ziyech will be part of Morocco’s World Cup squad, a visibly optimistic Lekjaa appeared to suggest that he expects the Atlas Lions to do well in Qatar.
The group of players representing Morocco right now is one of the most “technically competent” in Morocco’s history, said the FRMF chief, emphatically listing Ziyech among the players in question.
The Chelsea player had previously appeared to close the door for a potential return to the Atlas Lions, saying that he will not play for the Moroccan national team as long as it is managed by the Franco-Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic.
“I will never play under [the management of] this national team coach again, no matter what he does,” football commentator Hans Kraay Jr. quoted Ziyech as saying in a late May interview. “Whether he flies high, flies low, stands on my doorstep, wants to sleep in my attic or in the basement, I will not play under the command of this coach.”
Moroccan football fans have voiced protest against the Atlas Lions coach throughout the year, especially as his policies continued to alienate more players who have been described as necessary to Morocco’s competitiveness in international competitions.
Read also: Halilhodzic and Morocco’s Atlas Lions: Time to Say Goodbye?
