New setback for Morocco ahead of the Paris 2024 Olympic football tournament.
Due to FC Lugano’s refusal to authorize Ayman El Wafi, Morocco Olympic coach Tarik Sektioui has had to replace him with Adil Tahif. However, Sektioui faces further challenges from another club.
According to Le360 Sport, Real Betis Sevilla is making things difficult for the 47-year-old coach. Despite giving the green light for Ez Abde to participate in the Olympics, the Andalusian club will not release him before July 20, just four days before Morocco’s first match on July 24 against Argentina.
Ez Abde will miss the preparation phase. In reality, the left winger has been selected for Real Betis Sevilla’s pre-season camp in Austria from July 10 to 20. As a consequence, he will not join the reigning African U23 champions for their preparations.
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— Real Betis Balompié 🌴💚 (@RealBetis) July 10, 2024
¡Rumbo al primer stage de la pretemporada! pic.twitter.com/JKieijsmhy
The Beni Melal native is expected to directly join the team gathering in France. This is another setback that the Moroccan Olympic Lions could have done without. It’s worth noting that since the Olympics fall outside FIFA’s designated dates, clubs are not obligated to release their players.
Placed in Group B, Achraf Hakimi’s squad will face Ukraine on July 27 at the Geoffroy-Guichard stadium, three days after their opener against Argentina in the same venue. They will then meet Iraq on July 30 at the Allianz Riviera in Nice for their third and final group stage match.
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