Former Chelsea and Ajax winger, Hakim Ziyech could announce retirement from playing for the Atlas Lions of Morocco should be dropped from the squad for their 2026 World Cup qualifying games against Niger and Tanzania later this month.
Ziyech has struggled to regain his form despite joining Qatari side Al-Duhail during the January transfer window.
However, a report by Kooora says the 31-year-old who quit playing for the 2022 World Cup semifinalist should be excluded from the squad.
“Walid Regragui (Morocco’s coach) is in France on a special mission before announcing the upcoming list of the Lions, and he is the only one who knows the truth about the matter, but if he had reached a decision like this, he would have informed the Football Association, but that did not happen,” the report revealed.
He added: “The current trend is not to cause any problems within the Lions’ environment before the next CAN, which is a goal for the Moroccan national team, and Ziyech is the captain and current top scorer of this team, and Regragui met him in Qatar and determined with him what was described as a roadmap between them for the coming period.”
“Ziyech knows that he has lost his official status with the Atlas Lions to Brahim Diaz, who is shining with Real Madrid, and the matter is being dealt with calmly and wisely. There is nothing official regarding Hakim’s position,” he added.
The Atlas Lions will host Niger in Oujda on March 21 at 9pm Moroccan time, and will return to play against Tanzania at the same stadium on March 25 at the same time.
