Morocco coach: We want a new feat for out football in 2018

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Wednesday Jan 10, 2018. 09:00

The coach of Morocco’s locally-based national team, Jamal Sellami, has declared a desire to gain yet more glory for the country’s football at the upcoming African Nations Championship (CHAN).

The year 2017 was a great one for Moroccan football, with the senior nation team - led by coach Herve Renard - securing a return to the World Cup finals for the first time since 1998, while Wydad Casablanca won the CAF Champions Leagu

Following CAF’s decision to hand Morocco hosting rights for the 2018 CHAN (after stripping Kenya of the duty), the locally-based Atlas Lions now have a chance to add to the country’s growing list of football achievements.

"The year 2017 has witnessed the great awakening of Moroccan football and its return to the forefront of the continental and international scenes,” Sellami told MAP.

"Far from putting pressure on the players, the qualification to the World Cup 2018 in Russia and the coronation of WAC in the Champions League is a motivation for players to apply to the maximum and to fill the list of exploits by a new coronation.”

Morocco will open the tournament with their first Group A match against Mauritania on Saturday evening at the Stade Mohamed V in Casablanca.