Morocco formally appoint U-20 World Cup winner Mohamed Ouahbi as new head coach

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation has officially appointed Mohamed Ouahbi as the new head coach of the Morocco national football team, replacing Walid Regragui.

مرحباً بالناخب الوطني الجديد، الســيــد مــحــمــد وهــبــي
نتمنى لك كل التوفيق والنجاح في هذه الرحلة الجديدة

Welcome to our new National Head Coach, Mr. Mohamed Ouahbi
We wish you all the best in this new journey #DimaMaghrib 🇲🇦 pic.twitter.com/ngaScWEo1k

— Équipe du Maroc (@EnMaroc) March 5, 2026

The announcement was made during a press conference held on Thursday evening by federation president Fouzi Lekjaa, who also thanked Regragui for his achievements with the national team over the past years.

Regragui had been in charge of Morocco since August 2022 and led the Atlas Lions to a historic fourth-place finish at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar—the best result ever for an African and Arab nation in the tournament.

He also guided Morocco to the final of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, which was hosted in Morocco. However, the Atlas Lions lost the title to the Senegal national football team after a dramatic 1–0 defeat following extra time at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat.

Ouahbi will begin his tenure with two international friendlies in preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Morocco are set to face Ecuador national football team on March 27 in Madrid, before taking on the Uruguay national football team on March 31 in France.

The newly appointed coach arrives with strong credentials after leading Morocco to victory in the FIFA U-20 World Cup 2025, a historic triumph for Moroccan football.

أبــــــــطــــــــال الــــــــعــــــــالــــــــم 🌍🏆

𝑾𝑶𝑹𝑳𝑫 𝑪𝑯𝑨𝑴𝑷𝑰𝑶𝑵𝑺! 🇲🇦🦁#DimaMaghrib pic.twitter.com/CyrpAVXZKx

— Équipe du Maroc (@EnMaroc) October 20, 2025