{"id":4667,"date":"2026-01-16T07:26:57","date_gmt":"2026-01-16T07:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/?p=4667"},"modified":"2026-01-16T17:20:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T17:20:48","slug":"walid-regragui-is-unapologetic-over-mazraoui-controversy-part-one","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/2026\/01\/16\/walid-regragui-is-unapologetic-over-mazraoui-controversy-part-one\/","title":{"rendered":"Walid Regragui is Unapologetic over Mazraoui Controversy (Part One)<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (December 20th<\/sup> 2025)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Disrespected<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morocco\u2019s coach Walid Regragui explained that the Atlas Lions had received some assistance from foreign-based clubs regarding the planned arrival of players, but that did not extend to Manchester United. The 20 times champions of England\u2019s top-flight claimed that they have been treated unfairly by Morocco \u2013 they haven\u2019t been.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Atlas Lions Coach Walid Regragui<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

In fact, Morocco\u2019s second hosting of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) has been subjected to gross disrespect from the beginning. The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) stepped in to host the 35th<\/sup> AFCON in September 2023 after the Confederation of African Football (CAF) stripped Guinea of hosting rights a year earlier. Morocco planned to host the event in the summer just passed \u2013 it is their winter now just like in Europe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Morocco has developed an attractive style of football \u2013 one that flows best in the summer. Instead, they were given a nasty choice. It is obvious that Morocco is at its peak now \u2013 a fact recognised by African and Moroccan great Zaki Badou. He wanted Morocco to host in 2022, but that was Cameroon\u2019s long overdue turn. La C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire was due a turn too and in fact, Guinea too, but Guinea Conakry as it\u2019s sometimes known lagged too far behind the required standard, partly due to political upheavals there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 became Morocco\u2019s best and possibly last chance, as the summer of 2027 meant that this Golden generation of talented players would have been five years removed from their greatest achievement to date \u2013 the semi-final of the World Cup. Also, if they had waited to accommodate Gianni Infantino\u2019s four-year AFCON wish another World Cup with a bigger array of teams would have taken place with no guarantee of repetition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 was Morocco\u2019s best and possibly last chance to benefit from the host and win philosophy and the FRMF knew it. Their best chance to win in style and host a successful tournament was the summer of 2025. There was plenty of time to accommodate that, but FIFA president Gianni Infantino had other ideas. He had made no secret of his wish for AFCON to occur every four years and even that is to be at his dictate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

European Precedence Trumps Reason<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under former CAF presidents Ydnekachew Tessema and Issa Hayatou, there was no chance of securing CAF approval for this. But this time the disrespect was palpable. Not only did Infantino have plans to assuage Europeans objections at Africa\u2019s expense, but Infantino and FIFA had money-making plans that would not allow Morocco to host when it wanted to. Infantino and FIFA must have known that Morocco\u2019s climate had its own demands \u2013 it is the rainy season in the land of the Atlas Mountains, so much so that flash floods in Safi proved fatal last week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s no doubt that it suited the needs of all bar Infantino and his followers that the 35th<\/sup> AFCON should have taken place in the summer just passed. Morocco\u2019s climate suits that, the interests of clubs with AFCON-bound players suits it as well, as those players won\u2019t be required for AFCON during the Christmas season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Many years ago, I had an exclusive interview with the French coach Claude le Roy who was deemed African due to his love and commitment to African football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Claude le Roy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe clever thing,\u201d he said, \u201cis for European football to have winter breaks.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Satish Sekar \u00a9 Satish Sekar (December 20th 2025) Disrespected Morocco\u2019s coach Walid Regragui explained that the Atlas Lions had received some assistance from foreign-based clubs [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3616,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[16,17],"tags":[88,120,134,267,35,302,103,1713,1710,121,81,1653,1224,1715,1716,641,1714,1712],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4667"}],"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=4667"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4667\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4686,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4667\/revisions\/4686"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/empowersmag.com\/empowersmagwp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}