{"id":4659,"date":"2026-01-14T09:26:01","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T09:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=4659"},"modified":"2026-01-14T18:52:59","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T18:52:59","slug":"solid-foundations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2026\/01\/14\/solid-foundations\/","title":{"rendered":"Solid Foundations<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (December 18th<\/sup> 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Problem<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been to many football events in Africa and have high hopes for this one. Morocco has excellent infrastructures and has invested greatly in them and also in developing and nurturing talent. But the story of how Morocco turned itself into Africa\u2019s football powerhouse has not been appreciated as widely as it should have been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Years ago, I met and interviewed Nasser Larguet, the man tasked with developing the Mohammed VI Academy in Sal\u00e9. I had another interview with him recently (see https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2025\/09\/27\/nasser-larguet-an-architect-of-moroccos-football-renaissance\/<\/a>) \u2013 this came a long time after first meeting him by visiting the Mohammed VI Complex in Sal\u00e9 while it was still being built to see him, but the story of Morocco\u2019s football resurgence outdates it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

King Mohammed VI is a true football afficionado. First, he was perplexed, so his investment began to find out why Morocco had delivered just one AFCON title \u2013 1976- despite great talent. The review found a variation of the club versus country battle. Morocco\u2019s national team had depended largely on its clubs. Decades ago, that worked \u2013 the game was not what it is now. But as the years rolled by that model began to fail \u2013 miserably. It was bound to. The club puts its needs first \u2013 it has no need to develop players on any basis other than its needs. If it develops players for the national team as well, that\u2019s excellent, but those running the clubs, especially major ones lie Wydad Athletic Club (WAC) or Raja \u2013 both giants of Casablanca \u2013 have different priorities. They do not need to develop players to fill holes in the national team \u2013 their priority is and must be building their own teams. That left holes in the development of players focused on the national team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Filho Effect<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, the problem \u2013 a major one was identified \u2013 clubs cannot be expected to develop players that are not suited for their own needs, especially as they, unlike national teams can buy what they need. The national team needed its own solution. From a terrible failure in a World Cup \u2013 France 1966 \u2013 a solution was born. The now prestigious Clairefontaine Academy was developed. It opened its doors in 1972 and provides a national team impetus to French footballers without taking on the role of club academies. Former Brasilian footballer, Francisco Filho, took on the task of developing players for national team duty. He did so fine a job that France won two European championships and two World Cups. Filho was exceptional and he became involved in African football, but that\u2019s another story. He epitomises the required philosophy \u2013 there will be no instant gratification. You must sow the seeds before you can reap the fruit. Filho did that. He had an eager student in Nasser Larguet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Moroccan Solution<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morocco needed its own national academy and Larguet was tasked to develop it. Larguet explained his mission. He knew what support was needed before it could open its doors. The academy would provide education, accommodation and much more. Cooks were needed as nutrition is an essential component of developing healthy footballers. Academies have a shocking failure rate \u2013 Cardiff City has a fantastic one, but at most an academy would produce 10% that will play and more like just 1% that play at \u00e9lite level. That is actually a shocking definition of success. It means 90% won\u2019t make it at all on the pitch, so, what happens to them?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (December 18th 2025) The Problem I have been to many football events in Africa and have high hopes for this [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,17],"tags":[219,218,1701,1516,81,301,181,182],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4660,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4659\/revisions\/4660"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}