Morocco: Halilhodzic believes his pride has been “taken away”

Vahid Halilhodzic, a Franco-Bosnian coach, said he was “disgraced” to have been fired as Morocco’s head coach this summer and stripped of his position as team leader at the 2022 World Cup, where the Atlas Lions accomplished a historic feat by reaching the semifinals. At the end of August, Halilhodzic was fired for insisting that Chelsea star Hakim Ziyech be kept off the national team due to “disciplinary problems.”

By removing the Franco-Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic from his position as coach of Morocco this summer and depriving him of the World Cup-2022 where the Atlas Lions have excelled, he felt that they had “taken away his pride.”

“My pride was taken away. They are both things I will never be able to forgive. In light of the fact that it ought to have been my final coaching job”, The 70 years old Halilhodzic, told Croatian news website tportal.hr.

Walid Regragui has been the coach of Morocco since August 2022. By defeating Spain and Portugal, Morocco became the first African and Arab team to advance to the World Cup semifinals. After falling to Croatia, it came in fourth.

Even the tribute his successor gave him, according to Halilhodzic, “could not heal his bitterness or compensate for what (he) missed.”