Coaching Chaos in Morocco: Amin El Karma Falls as the Botola Pro Sizzles with Firings
7 October 2025
Coaching turnover continues in Botola Pro
Morocco’s premier football division is once again shaking up its coaching ranks, with high-profile dismissals marking the early weeks of the season. The turmoil points to a broader pattern of administrative confusion and a shaky vision at several clubs.
The latest casualty is Amin El Karma, the former Olympique Safi coach who rose with the club and led them to a historic triumph by winning the national cup last season, thereby restoring the team’s pride and earning a continental berth.
El Karma had just overseen a sweeping victory in the CAF Confederation Cup qualifiers—six to nil on aggregate against Nijelik of Niger—yet a 3-0 defeat to the Royal Army side was enough to sever ties, underscoring how fragile trust can be when results flip and tensions simmer behind the scenes.
Although he is a club favorite, the dismissal reflects a broader culture where a coach is often treated as the one- face scapegoat for collective struggles. The local crowd and media have long urged stability, but the boardroom realities often trump long-term planning.
El Karma’s exit is particularly ironic because he is seen as a product of the club—having grown up within Olympique Safi’s ranks, both as a player and a coach, and earning the city’s reverence for steering them into Africa for the first time in the club’s history.
Sources close to the club indicate that the split was not solely due to the loss to the army club, but stemmed from weeks of internal friction. It is said that El Karma had grown frustrated with the players’ morale after delayed salaries, and he even contemplated resignation multiple times amid the mounting pressures of last season’s challenges.
Inside the Moroccan football ecosystem, this case highlights a pattern: managerial turnovers as a quick fix, often at odds with the systemic issues on the ground. El Karma stands out as the only Moroccan coach to have won the national cup with two different clubs (Berkan and Safi) and to have led both to continental competition, yet his exit is treated with a degree of surprise that reveals deeper tensions between management and coaching staff.
The firing is framed by some as a “scapegoat moment”—a recurring ritual where clubs seek to placate fans after a stumble. A former coach-association official notes that the manager now bears the brunt of results, while the real problems lie in mismanagement and a lack of long-term strategic planning.
The discussion increasingly points to a missing piece in many clubs: a sporting director. With executives steering football choices and coaching decisions, clashes are inevitable, leading to early-season crises and unstable structures that stunt performance and growth.
As the season unfolds, more coaches are expected to depart. Reports suggest several clubs may replace their managers during the upcoming international break, hoping that new leadership can spark a turnaround. Last season’s record of managerial dismissals (a staggering number) looms as a cautionary tale for the present campaign.
Administrative turmoil, not a lack of talent, seems to be the core issue. Club presidents and boards often opt for the easiest remedy—sacking the coach—without addressing root causes or planning for the future. The coaching fraternity has responded with calls for reforms to protect staff from abrupt, financially damaging interruptions, including a newly approved rule allowing a second tenure within the same season to mitigate some of the economic fallout of early cuts.
Punchline 1: If coaching were an Olympic sport, some managers would still find a way to trip over a whistle and call it a tactical retreat.
Punchline 2: In Moroccan football, job security lasts about as long as a pre-match warm-up—short, sweaty, and usually over before the trophy lift photo.
