Update on Ziyech and Morocco’s AFCON Squad

One of the biggest football events for African teams next year is AFCON, the African Cup of Nations, the equivalent of the European Championships. It is perhaps the biggest continental football event for football fans and betting enthusiasts alike. 

The event was supposed to take place last summer but it was postponed over COVID concerns – it will be held next January in Cameroon. 

Hakim Ziyech, Chelsea’s attacking midfielder and winger, received a kick in a previous match so he was in doubt for the Blues’ trip to Villa Park. Ultimately, he did not step on the turf in the team’s Boxing Day match at all. And now it seems that he’ll miss even more high-profile football: Morocco manager Vahid Halilhodžić didn’t call him up for the team’s AFCON matches early next year.

Ziyech has yet to react to the news of not making it into Morocco’s squad playing in the Africa Cup of Nations next year.

The squad is ready

Halilhodžić called up three more players to play with Morocco’s national football team – the Atlas Lions – in the AFCON taking place between January 9 and February 6 next year. The squad only has a handful of players employed at UEFA clubs – PSG winger Achraf Hakimi, Sevilla forward Youssef En-Nesyri, Barcelona right-wing Abde Ezzalzouli, and Watford defender Adam Masina, among others – perhaps because some European clubs threatened not to release their players for national team duty due to the rise of the Omicron variant. 

This may be the reason why Ziyech was skipped by Halilhodžić despite his considerable value on the turf.

The Moroccan national team is scheduled to face Ghana on January 10, then continue with matches against Comoros and Gabon in the coming week.

Hakim Ziyech

Ziyech was born in the Netherlands into a Moroccan family. He started playing football at the age of eight, initially with Reaal Dronten, then with ASV Dronten. He went on playing for Heerenveen’s youth side in 2007 where he remained for the first years of his senior career. From there, he left for FC Twente, and from there, to Ajax and the Eredivisie where he stayed for four seasons. While there, he played in over 110 league games, scored 38 goals, won the Eredivisie Player of the Month twice, the Ajax Player of the Year three times, the Dutch Footballer of the Year once, and scored the Ajax Goal of the Season once. 

Ziyech left Ajax for Chelsea last year. Since then, he has proven himself to be a valuable player, scoring goals and providing assists in several of the team’s matches. Among his achievements with the Blues, we find him being named in the FA Cup Team of the Year.