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It’s a historic performance that Moroccan clubs achieved during the first weekend in March, reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League and the Confederation Cup. In the first, the most prestigious, the Raja de Casablanca eliminated TP Mazembe (DRC), considered one of the favorites (2-0, 0-1), while WAC, the other club in the city Moroccan, got rid of the Tunisians from the Etoile du Sahel (2-0, 0-1).
In the second competition, the equivalent of the Europa League, the sports Renaissance of Berkane and the Hassania of Agadir took the upper hand respectively on the Egyptians of Al-Masry (2-1, 1-0) and the Libyans of 'Al-Nasr de Benghazi (5-0, 2-0). Ironically, the two Moroccan teams will face each other in the semi-finals on May 3 and 10.
Since the early 2000s, only WAC has won the Champions League in 2017, letting Tunisian, Egyptian, Congolese and Nigerian clubs accumulate titles. The results are more flattering in the Confederation Cup, at a less elevated level, with four trophies (FAR of Rabat in 2005, FUS of Rabat in 2010, Moghreb of Tétouan in 2011 and Raja in 2017). These results reflect the efforts made at different levels of Moroccan football, under the leadership of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) and its very active president, Fouzi Lekjaa (49).
An ambitious sports policy
“In recent years there has been a desire to change things, to professionalize. I've been playing in Morocco for a little over a year and a half, I think its championship is one of the best in Africa ", explains Burkinabé international Alain Traoré, the Berkane striker, who notably played in France (Auxerre, Lorient, Monaco).
The successes recorded by the kingdom's clubs rest on an ambitious sports policy and an improvement in the economic conditions of the clubs. After his election in 2014 as head of the FRMF, Fouzi Lekjaa, who is also director of the state budget and former president of the Berkane Sports Renaissance, began to apply his program, structured around three essential themes .
"First, take care of the infrastructure. This involved renovating stadiums or building new enclosures, whether for professional or amateur clubs. And he put an end to synthetic fields to impose natural lawns. The president also asked that the clubs be structured administratively and that they adopt a strict management policy. ", explains Jamal Kouachi, member of the FRMF's steering committee.
Thus, the clubs are placed under the supervision of the National Directorate of Control and Management, inspired by the French model. In return, the FRMF grants each Ligue 1 club an annual subsidy of around 600,000 euros. "And those who participate in the African Cups receive financial aid from the federation, for travel and accommodation", continues Jamal Kouachi. Thus, the FRMF had chartered a special flight to allow the Raja of Casablanca to move to Lubumbashi in the best conditions to face TP Mazembe.
Focus on training young players
The body also decided to grant Moroccan clubs bonuses based on their performance on the national scene. “Economically, the clubs are doing better. In most of them, wages are paid on time, training conditions improve. As the general level improves, Moroccan football is even more attractive and it attracts foreign players and coaches who help to improve it ", continues Alain Traoré.
Morocco has also placed emphasis on training young players who are likely to join professional clubs. Training centers have opened in Berkane and Tétouan, and that of Raja de Casablanca will be inaugurated in the coming months. "When he was elected, Fouzi Lekjaa had a football development program asking the clubs to strengthen their training policy", recalls Mustapha El Haddaoui, former international (55 caps) and president of the Moroccan Union of Professional Footballers.
In 2009, King Mohammed VI had inaugurated a training center bearing his name in Salé, near Rabat, from which came several Moroccan internationals such as Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla FC), Nayef Aguerd and Hamza Mendyl (Dijon FCO ). Training centers, placed under the authority of the FRMF, have thus been created in several regions of Morocco.
Of course, Moroccan football, the first African country to use video assistance (VAR) for its league games, still has to fight against certain bad habits, such as technical instability, consisting of changing coaches several times in the same season, and problems of violence in stadiums, even if the phenomenon tends to decline.
“There has really been a big step forward. The clubs work better, they prove that they are capable of competing with the best of the continent, like Esperance of Tunis, TP Mazembe or Al-Ahly. The awareness was made at the level of the federation, which invests a lot of money, and also of the State, involved in this project. It is a work in depth and the results of the clubs in recent months are the translation "sums up Mustapha El Haddaoui.
