Morocco’s Coaching Boom: A Historic Year of Turning Tides
15 December 2025
Historic Year for Moroccan Coaches
As 2025 draws to a close, Morocco’s Tarik Sektioui, coach of the Morocco B team, heads to the Arab Cup final against his compatriot Jamal Al-Salami, Jordan’s coach. It's a striking signal that Moroccan coaches are stacking successes across borders, in clubs and on the continent, with a generation of attentive, mint-tea-fueled tacticians rising.
A Year of Cross-Continental Achievements
This year alone has amplified that trend. In May, Nabil Bahaa captured the AFCON U17 title; in Chile, Mohamed Wahbi lifted the U20 World Cup. Adel Saih claimed AFCON for women's futsal, while Sektioui lifted the CHAN trophy with Morocco in August. A wave of titles that testifies to a coaching pipeline delivering at multiple levels.
On the world stage, Walid Regraki earlier steered the senior side to a historic fourth place at the 2022 World Cup, chalking up an 18-match winning streak and pushing the Atlas Lions to eleventh in the FIFA rankings. Separately, Sektioui, Amouta, and Al-Salami each completed three AFCON for locals titles, a continental record.
In the arena of futsal and Arab competition, Hicham Dakik has now won three straight Arab Cups and AFCON for futsal, while the Moroccan team ranked sixth globally. Regionally, Hussein Amouta guided Jordan to their first Asia Cup final in Qatar, with Jamal Al-Salami then guiding Jordan to a historic World Cup berth and a run to the Arab Championship final.
All of this underscores how Moroccan coaching programs, backed by CAF trainings and diplomas, are strengthening the coaching stock across Africa and beyond, while the Royal Moroccan Football Federation entrusts Moroccan coaches with leadership roles for national teams of all ages. A strategic win for Moroccan football culture. Looking ahead, analysts say the rise is as much about culture as trophies: a coaching pipeline strengthened by CAF’s Moroccan camps, accessible diplomas, and mentoring pathways that keep talented coaches in the game rather than chasing treat bags of coins elsewhere. The federation’s trust in homegrown mentors has created a generation comfortable switching between youth teams, clubs, and national squads, all while maintaining an unmistakable Moroccan football identity—tenacity, creativity, and a taste for mint tea between sessions.
