We know the composition of the Moroccan national team led by Achraf Hakimi for the 2026 World Cup. Since the Atlas Lions are the best team on the African continent with Senegal (and the Moroccans are currently reigning African champions since the dismissal of the Senegalese), coach Mohamed Ouahbi was inevitably going to leave out excellent players for this World Cup.
Walid Regragui’s successor unveiled his list of 26 on Tuesday evening, and the big absentee is Youssef En-Nesyri. The center forward has been a captain of the selection since his debut in 2016, being one of the heroes of Morocco’s epic at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. He already has 92 caps (for 25 goals) at the age of 28. The former Sevilla player pays for his mixed season at Al-Ittihad (8 goals).
Brahim Diaz, Abde Ezzalzouli, Ayoub El Kaabi, Chemsdine Talbi, Al-Ain striker Soufiane Rahimi, but also Gessime Yassine, the 20-year-old winger from RC Strasbourg, make up the offensive sector. His Alsatian teammate Samir El Mourabet, defensive midfielder, is also there. Sofiane Boufal, Ilias Akhomach and Tawfik Bentayeb, top scorer in Ligue 2 with Troyes, are going on vacation…
Bouaddi, the first with Morocco!
Besides Hakimi, the executives Yassine Bounou, Nayef Aguerd, Noussair Mazraoui, Neil El Aynaoui, Sofyan Amrabat, Azzedine Ounahi and Ismael Saibari are present. Just like the defenders Issa Diop and Chadi Riad, as well as the new kid, Ayyoub Bouaddi, prodigy from Losc and the Espoirs tricolores who has just decided to represent the country of his parents. Ayoube Amaimouni, young winger from Frankfurt (21 years old), is the other player with zero caps for the moment.
The Moroccans will challenge Neymar’s Brazil for the first shock of the World Cup, on June 14 in the suburbs of New York (midnight in France), before challenging Scotland and Haiti on June 20 and 25.
