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Tag: Morocco

  • Morocco 2025: Super Eagles played below standard, Eguavoen says

    Morocco 2025: Super Eagles played below standard, Eguavoen says

    Super Eagles Coach, Augustine Eguavoen, who was not happy with his team’s 1-2 loss to Rwanda in the ongoing AFCON 2025 qualifier, said the team played below standard.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the match, which was played at the Godswill Akpabio International Stadium in Uyo, witnessed a goalless first half.

    Eguavoen who spoke after the match on Monday, said it was a sad day for the team to lose to Rwanda in Uyo, as he had strategised to win the match.

    He, however, expressed confidence in the players`ability, as football is all about winning, losing or drawing.

    “Below standard, I feel very sad right now. It was not what we planned for.

    “We scored and then against the run of play we conceded, and I tried to change formation, but it didn’t work.

    “We conceded a second goal, we changed the game formation, brought in two strikers, and it just didn’t work.

    “Football is about winning, losing or drawing. I think we have a strong squad but it just didn’t happen for us today. But I still very much believe in this team,” he said.

    Samuel Chukwueze had scored the only Nigerian goal and within the 10 minutes interval the Rwandan Samuel Marie equalised through a run of play.

    Also Speaking after the match, Rwanda Coach, Torsten Spittler, said he was proud of his boys as they played according to instructions.

    Spitter expressed happiness for defeating the Super Eagles on Nigerian soil, adding that he told his boys to frustrate the Super Eagles by playing their best.

    Read Also: Morocco 2025: Eguavoen tips Super Eagles to beat Amavubi

    “I’m very proud of my boys, how they played here in Nigeria. I think it was well deserved. We defended well and played good football.

    “Maybe today is our lucky day and a happy day for us, even though we have not qualified for the AFCON, but I think we are happy to have come here and get three points.

    “We gave them a hard time from the beginning, you could see in the faces of Nigerian players that they didn’t enjoy this evening,” he said.

    The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that in spite the defeat, the Super Eagles topped the group with 10 points to qualify for the AFCON scheduled for Morocco in 2025.

    (NAN)

  • Morocco to host CAF Women’s Champions League 2024

    Morocco to host CAF Women’s Champions League 2024

    The Confederation of African Football (CAF)  has picked  Morocco  to host the 2024 edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League Finals.

    The CAF Women’s Champions League Morocco 2024 will be played between November  9 and 23.

    Morocco hosted the 2022 edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League – the premium women’s club football competition in Africa.

    Eight clubs including Edo Queens  will contest the top prize. Winners will get USD 400 000 in prize money with runners-up walking away with USD 250 000.

    Mamelodi Sundowns are the current holders – having won the competition twice in three years.

    Morocco’s ASFAR is the other team that has won the Competition – back in 2022 when they defeated Mamelodi Sundowns.

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    Since its inception, the CAF Women’s Champions League played a key role in shaping women’s football in Africa.

    Morocco’s hosting of the CAF Women’s Champions League follows the nation’s successful hosting of the CAF Women’s Africa Cup of Nations 2022 which also enjoyed unparalleled success.

    Six Zonal tournaments took place to qualify  six  teams in addition to the host and the holder of 2023 title to the FT of CAF WCL 2024.

    Apart from holders Mamelodi Sundowns (South Africa) and host team ASFAR (Morocco), Aigles de la Medina (Senegal) will represent  WAFU A   while Edo Queens (Nigeria) will represent WAFU B  .

    Others are

    University of Western Cape (South Africa) for COSAFA , Tutankhamun (Egypt) for UNAF , CBE FC (Ethiopia) for CECAFA and TP Mazembe (DR Congo) for UNIFFAC.

  • Six-star Morocco maul Egypt to win historic bronze

    Six-star Morocco maul Egypt to win historic bronze

    Morocco claimed the bronze medal in the Olympic men’s soccer tournament with a crushing 6-0 win over Egypt thanks to Soufiane Rahimi’s double and goals from Abde Ezzalzouli, Bilal El Khannouss, Akram Nakach and Achraf Hakimi in Nantes.

    Morocco, who lost 2-1 to Spain in the semi-finals, bounced back with the biggest win of the tournament so far to reach an Olympic podium for the first time. The bronze is also the country’s first medal in a team sport.

    “We had to earn our victory, it wasn’t easy. It’s important to get failures first and learn from mistakes and we were able to come back stronger,” Morocco manager Tarik Sektioui told reporters.

    “It was not easy, we had very tough matches. Players were aware of their responsibility and played with a lot of pride.”

    Egypt suffered their first regular time defeat of the tournament but despite the drubbing equalled their best result at the Olympics with a fourth place finish as in 1928 and 1964.

    Ezzalzouli opened the scoring with a superb shot into the top corner after 23 minutes, before tournament top scorer Rahimi doubled the lead three minutes later with a fine header from Ezzalzouli’s cross.

    El Khannouss got on the score sheet six minutes into the second half with a great low finish after a solo run off Ezzalzouli’s second assist and Rahimi netted his eighth Olympic goal to make it 4-0.

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    The 28-year-old Rahimi became the first player to score in six consecutive Olympic games, while his scoring record is the best since 2004 when Argentina’s Carlos Tevez also had eight.

    Defender Nakach tapped in from Rahimi’s pass and captain Hakimi completed the rout with a terrific free kick three minutes from time.

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    “We are proud of winning this medal, we worked very hard and sacrificed a lot,” Hakimi said. “We wanted the gold, unfortunately we didn’t make it to the final but we showed character and we were able to win an historic medal for Morocco.

    “As captain, I would like to thank our fans that were here and in Morocco.

    The podium finish was key for Morocco to confirm their rise in football, coach Sektioui said, after the country reached the 2022 World Cup semi-finals and finished fourth after knocking out heavyweights Spain and Portugal in the knockout rounds.

    “It shows Moroccan football is in a good path and we are making good progress. We had to succeed after the World Cup we had,” he said.

    Hakimi added that it was not only Morocco that was growing in world football, but the whole continent.

    “We had opened a lot of doors not only in our country but for African football,” Hakimi, 25, added. “Today there were two African countries fighting for a third and fourth place. Everyone saw the quality we have.”

  • Egypt, Morocco in  showdown for men’s bronze medal

    Egypt, Morocco in  showdown for men’s bronze medal

    Despite seeing their gold medal dreams dashed, Egypt and Morocco will be looking to cap their remarkable Olympic men’s football campaigns with their first ever podium finish when they meet in the bronze medal clash in Nantes today.

    Both teams have been outstanding during the Paris Games, as Egypt progressed as Group C winners before reaching their first semi-final in 60 years. Morocco, who topped Group B, reached the knockout stages for the first time.

    Following a dramatic win on penalties over 2004 silver medallists Paraguay, Egypt came close to shocking hosts France in the semi-finals, before a late Jean-Philippe Mateta goal sent the match in Lyon to extra time.

    Egypt ultimately fell 3-1, but now have their sights set on a first Olympic medal coached by Brazilian Rogerio Micale, who led his country to their first gold back in 2016.

    “We had a great performance. We kept France at bay for 80 minutes, which I think was superb,” Micale said after Monday’s loss. “It hurts, but we have to keep our heads high and focus on playing for bronze. It will be very difficult, but we have to try to win. It would be a huge joy for me to win another medal for another country.

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    “I’m really proud to have been the manager of Brazil when they won their first football gold in Rio 2016 and now to be in a position to take Egypt to the first football medal match in history.”

    Morocco continue their rise in world football having reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, where they finished fourth after knocking out heavyweights Spain and Portugal in previous rounds.

    Morocco, who thrashed the United States 4-0 in the quarter-finals, pushed Spain to the limit in the semi-final in Marseille, taking a first-half lead through Soufiane Rahimi, the tournament’s leading scorer with six, who could become the first player to score in six consecutive Olympic matches.

    Despite their 2-1 late defeat by the Tokyo silver medallists, coach Tarik Sektioui took the positives from his squad’s performance.

    “This was a good lesson for the young players on how to manage situations like that in the future,” Sektioui said.

    “Of course, we’re very disappointed, but we have to move on from this defeat quickly because we have another match on Thursday. We still have a chance to win a medal, and we want to do just that for our country.”

  • Morocco retains Regragui as coach

    Morocco retains Regragui as coach

    Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) has decided to continue with Walid Regragui as the head coach of Atlas Lions despite the early elimination at the Africa Cup.

    Morocco topped Group F with 7 points and was beaten 2-0 by South Africa in the round of 16.

    The FRMF in a press release yesterday ,  said the 48-year-old Regragui will remain in place with the Moroccan federation ahead of the 2025 AFCON and 2030 World Cup, which are both set to take place in the North African country.

    Read Also: South Africa dream AFCON final after Morocco upset

    The statement stated that FRMF has “renewed its confidence in the national head coach, Walid Regragui, while assuring that it will continue to mobilize all means capable of ensuring the national team’s full success.”

    It added: “The president of the Royal Moroccan Football League, Mr Fouzi Lekjaa, stressed the need to continue working and making every effort to give the national team and football the status it deserves in order to delight the Moroccan fans in the upcoming competitions, especially the 2026 World Cup qualifiers and the preparations for the Africa Cup of Nations finals that our country will host in the summer of next year.”

    Regragui led the team to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, a first for any African nation.

  • Morocco’s Boufal to miss duel  with Bafana Bafana

    Morocco’s Boufal to miss duel  with Bafana Bafana

     Morocco must do without Sofiane Boufal and could be missing another key attacker in Hakim Ziyech when they take on South Africa in their Africa Cup of Nations last-16 clash on Tuesday, coach Walid Regragui said.

    Boufal, who was part of Morocco’s team that reached the World Cup semi-finals in Qatar 14 months ago, was injured in training over the weekend.

    “I think his Cup of Nations is over, and so we’ve lost an important player,” Regragui told a press conference.

    “It happened in training, as it could happen in a match. It’s a muscle injury that will prevent him from finishing the tournament, apart from a miracle. We’ll see, but as it stands right now, it’s very complicated for Sofiane.”

    Read Also: AFCON 2023: Football fans caution Super Eagles against underrating Angola

    Ziyech scored the first-half winner in Morocco’s 1-0 win in their last Group F game against Zambia in San Pedro on Wednesday but went off at halftime with a sore ankle.

    “The decision for Ziyech will be made at the last minute or last second,” Regragui added on the eve of the match.

     “He was kicked in the ankle against Zambia. We will do our best to get him on the pitch and if we have to take a risk, we will take it because we want our best players on the pitch.

    “I think it would be disrespectful to South Africa and to football to say that we can do without Hakim Ziyech and think we could still get to the quarter-final,” he said.

    Morocco were among the pre-tournament favourites and topped their section. South Africa were runners-up in Group E.

    They are the only team to have beaten Morocco in their 12 matches since the World Cup. The two countries shared the same qualifying group for the tournament in  Cote d’Ivoire.

  • Fed Govt, Morocco in talks on gas pipeline

    Fed Govt, Morocco in talks on gas pipeline

    In a bid to fast-track the process of achieving the Final Investment Decision (FID) on the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline, the Federal Government has intensified discussions with the Kingdom of Morocco.

    The discussion which held on January 24, 2024, on the side-lines of a meeting between the Minister of State for Petroleum Resources (Gas), Hon. Ekperikpe Ekpo, and the Moroccan Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Ms. Leila Benali, was anchored by the NNPC Ltd.’s Executive Vice President, Gas, Power & New Energy, Mr. Olalekan Ogunleye, and the Director General of the Morocco National Office of Hydrocarbons and Mines (ONHYM), Mme Amina Benkhadra.

    Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited, Chief Corporate Communications Officer, Mr. Olufemi Soneye, made this disclosure in a press statement yesterday.

    According to the statement, the talks focused on how to drive the partnership between the two countries to accelerate the Nigeria-Morocco Gas Pipeline Project in line with the series of Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) signed between the two countries in Abuja in 2022.

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    Both parties emphasised the strategic importance of the project to the two countries and the entire African continent and the need to drive it to completion expeditiously in line with the objective of stemming energy poverty on the African continent. 

    It would be recalled that the Cooperation Agreement for the 48″ x 5,300Km pipeline from Nigeria to Dhakia (Morocco) and 1,700km from Dhakia to Northern Morocco was signed in 2017 with a capacity of 30 billion cubic meter (bcm) per year (equivalent of 3.0 billion standard cubic feet of gas per day).

    The pipeline would traverse Republic of Benin, Togo, Ghana, Cote d’Ivoire, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Gambia, Senegal, Mauritania, and terminate in Morocco with a spur to Spain.

    Due to the international nature of the project, the ECOWAS Commission is saddled with the responsibility to, among other things facilitate inter-governmental treaty and host government agreements, establishment of Pipeline Higher Authority, and alignment with AU, UN and other relevant international bodies.

    The project, among other things, will help drive the monetisation of Nigeria’s gas resources, maintain NNPC Ltd.’s energy leadership in Africa, and promote economic and regional cooperation among African Countries.

  • Morocco’s Khannouss praises San Pedro ‘s facilities

    Morocco’s Khannouss praises San Pedro ‘s facilities

    Morocco midfielder Bilal El Khannouss is full of praise for the training facilities in San Pedro ahead of the 34th  edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, Cote d’Ivoire 2023.

    The Atlas Lions were the first team to touch down for the tournament as they arrived in the West African country on Sunday afternoon.

    The North African giants trained for the time in the country on Monday at the stadium Auguste-Denise de San Pédro, and were delighted over the facilities.

    “I think it’s the best facility that I have seen since I played in Africa. The hotel is also perfect,” said El Khannouss. “We have everything to prepare well,” added the KRC Genk (Belgium) midfielder.

    Read Also: CAF Awards: Gusau hails Osimhen, Oshoala, Nnadozie, Falcons as Nigeria win big in Morocco

    The Atlas Lions are upbeat about their campaign in Cote d’Ivoire, with Bilal El Khannouss saying that they are ready to give it their all.

     “We know that the Moroccan supporters are always behind us. We saw it in all competitions. We will do everything to make them proud. I thank them for the support they give us all the time,” said El Khannouss.

    El Khannouss is playing in his first AFCON and will be relying on mentorship from current CAF Awards Coach of the Year Walid Regragui. “We will listen to what the coach will tell us and with that we will do our best.”

    Morocco kicks off their campaign against Tanzania on Wednesday, 17 January. They then face DR Congo three days later before wrapping up their final group game against Zambia on 24 January.

    All matches will be played at the Laurent Pokou stadium in San Pedro.

  • ENIFF closes to resounding applause

    ENIFF closes to resounding applause

    The fourth edition of the Eastern Nigeria International film festival (ENIFF) ended in grand style in Enugu.

    At the end of the festival, CJ ‘Fiery’ Obasi’s ‘Mami Wata’ won the most awards at the festival.

    Also, winning laurels were films from Nigeria, Morocco, Cameroon, and the United Kingdom from the 36 shortlisted films from 20 countries.

    For four days, film enthusiasts gathered at the Enugu Window on America complex, for panel discussions, capacity building workshops, and  keynote addresses.

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    Resource persons and facilitators  included Ego Boyo, Femi Odugbemi, and Emeka Mbah of Afia TV with Keynote speakers that include Chris Obi Rapu, Frank Nweke, and Jahman Anikulapo.

    The Consulate General of the United States in Nigeria, Will Stevens, in a statement, reiterated the U.S. recognition of the positive impact the  creative economy can have on Nigeria in general and the South East of Nigeria in particular. He also affirmed his commitment to capacity building, training  and continuous  partnership with ENIFF to educate the teeming Nigerian  youths on film production and its value chain.

  • CSO hails Morocco’s rapid economic growth

    CSO hails Morocco’s rapid economic growth

    The Permanent Representatives of the Centre for Convention on Democratic Integrity, (CDDI) and President Rights Group, Olufemi Aduwo has said that the Civil Society Policy Forum, (CSPF) is impressed by the rapid economic development going on in Morocco especially in Marrakech.

    He said it is amazing that Morocco has accomplished an impressive reforms journey.

    Aduwo made this known while delivering his remarks during the opening session of the Civil Society Policy Forum (CSPF), a key event during the World Bank Group-International Monetary Fund (WBG-IMF) Spring and Annual Meetings in Morocco.

    The forum provides an open space for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) to dialogue and exchange views with the World Bank Group and IMF staff, their peers, government delegations, and other stakeholders on a wide range of shared development issues.

    Aduwo while delivering his remarks in his capacity as the Chairman of Civil Society Policy Forum/ African Unions Countries Caucus, ((CSPF /AU Countries Caucus) on the significant of this year’s meeting in Morocco during the opening session early Tuesday, said the Meeting will provide an opportunity for Morocco to showcase its reforms, achievements and economic potentials, raising investment prospects to support the kingdom’s economy and its people. .

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    He thanked the Chairman of session, Mr. Abdoul Salam Bello, Executive Director of the Africa Group II at the World Bank Group Board for the privilege, just as he extends the forum sincere condolences for the devasting loss of lives caused by the earthquake on September 8.

    “Our hearts are with all the people of Morocco at this difficult time”, Aduwo said.

    He said the Civil Society Forum – World Bank have worked closely with the Morocco authorities through its members in Morocco to assess the situation and the city readiness to host the meetings.

    ” We want to thank the authorities of World Bank Group and IMF who believed in the preliminary report submitted. lndeed , we are happy to be in Marrakech, to stand in solidarity with the Morocco and to highlight the resilience of the Morocco people.

    “The Annual Meetings of the World bank and IMF are returning to Africa after 50yrs (Kenya 1973), your sincerely was 10 years old then. l think the choice to host these meetings in Morocco is a natural one. This is the country that bridges Africa, the Middle East and Europe, and a place where cultures come together, ideas flourish and determination makes the impossible possible.

    He said the Annual meetings brings, Africa to the world and World to the Africa, not Morocco alone would benefited, but the entire Africa. l hope that in a very not too long years, my country, Nigeria the proud of Africa would be the next venue.