National technical executives highlight the leadership of the Mohammed VI Football Academy in the training of young players

In this sense, Abdellah El Idrissi, member of the National Technical Department, indicated that the level reached today by the national team under 17 is mainly due to the good training of the players, especially within the Mohammed VI Football Academy, a model to follow in this area, alongside other national club academies, such as AS FAR, FUS Rabat, among others.

In addition to the academies, the excellent level of the technical managers appointed by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) to supervise the youth categories, like the former international Said Chiba or the former goalkeeper of the Lions of Atlas, Nadir Lemyaghri and others also contribute to the exploits of Moroccan football, he highlighted in a statement to MAP.

The FRMF has succeeded in training by encouraging clubs to create academies and training centres, which have become, in recent years, a veritable breeding ground for young talents who feed the national teams, all age categories combined, the proof being the honorable course of the U17 national team during this cup, crowned by a historic qualification for the World Cup in the category, he added.

For his part, the analyst and sports critic, Aymane Zizi, pointed out that the presence of nine players from the Mohammed VI football academy in the list of 26 players of the national team is irrefutable proof of the success of the strategy advocated by the FRMF in this area.

In 2013, he nuanced, the national team had reached the semi-finals of CAN-U17 with a backbone made up of 80 pc of players playing abroad, while the curve has been reversed today , the national colors being defended by 80% of players trained in Moroccan academies, notably the Mohammed VI football academy.

For the DTN, the important thing is not to achieve positive results, in particular for the categories of young people, but to guarantee continuity in terms of training, he said.

As for the national executive Mohammed Mouh, he welcomed the role played by the FRMF in terms of the creation of sports schools and academies, the objective being the training of a generation of players capable of carrying the torch and raise Moroccan football to the world level.

The beginnings of this feat are already palpable with the epic of the Atlas Lions at the Qatar-2022 World Cup and the honorable journey of the U17 national team at CAN-2023, he added.