馃嚥馃嚘MoroccoNorth Africa
Morocco's U17 national team's fourth-place finish at AFCON raises concerns for National Technical Directorate
via Le Matin2 min read
Morocco's U17 national team finished fourth at the U17 Africa Cup of Nations after losing to Senegal in the semi-finals and then to Egypt 2-0 in the third-place play-off. The team's performance against Egypt highlighted significant shortcomings, including a lack of inspiration, inability to challenge the opposing defense, and a playing level below expectations. Observers noted a technical and mental breakdown, marked by a lack of commitment and collective fight. Despite substantial investments in youth development, the team's uninspired showing at the Mohammed VI Football Complex has raised serious concerns. The defeat is seen not as an isolated incident but as a symptom of a growing gap between national football ambitions and on-field reality, characterized by zero midfield creativity, recurring defensive errors, and sterile offensive play. This failure also brings into question the strategic choices made by the National Technical Directorate. The departure of Nabil Baha, who led the team to victory in the 2025 edition, is difficult for many national football observers to understand. Baha had instilled a winning culture, mastered local specificities, and maintained essential psychological proximity with the adolescent players. The shift to a foreign coach, Tiago Lima Pereira, who is less familiar with traditional scouting circuits, is believed to have disrupted a successful transmission chain that had been effective since the era of Sa茂d Chiba. Prioritizing international cre
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This summary was AI-generated from a story originally published by Le Matin.
Ten years after the July 15, 2016 events in Turkey, the memory of Jawad Merroun, a Moroccan national from Tangier, continues to be honored. Merroun was among the 253 people who died during the events and has become an emblematic figure in official Turkish ceremonies, symbolizing the friendship between Morocco and Turkey. To commemorate the anniversary, the Communication Directorate of the Presidency of the Republic of Turkey organized an international program from July 15 to 17, bringing together 41 journalists from 21 countries, including Nabila Bakkass from "Le Matin" and Fouad El Yamani from "Assahraa Al Maghribia" representing Morocco. The initiative aimed to help foreign media understand how Turkey preserves the memory of July 15, 2016, through memorial sites, institutions, and testimonies. The Turkish authorities' objective is to remember the events and present their perspective to foreign observers. The delegation visited significant sites in Ankara and Istanbul, participating in official ceremonies for Democracy and National Unity Day. They toured the Turkish public broadcaster TRT headquarters, where a studio, now called "July 15 Studio," has been preserved as a memorial. Ahmet G枚rmez, Deputy Director General of TRT for international services, explained that public media were among the first targets of the coup attempt. The delegation also visited the July 15 Democracy Museum in Ankara's presidential complex, inaugurated in 2021, which uses photographs, videos, docum
Morocco is enhancing its measures against financial scams, particularly phishing, as the digital transformation of its financial sector accelerates. Nabil Badr, Director of Banking Supervision at Bank Al-Maghrib, highlighted this during a workshop in Rabat, co-organized with the National Financial Intelligence Authority. He noted that cyber-scams are now viewed as a significant risk to digital trust, financial inclusion, and the fight against illicit financial flows, rather than just banking fraud. Global financial fraud losses reached 442 billion dollars in 2025, according to Interpol's Global Financial Fraud Threat Assessment report. Fraudsters are increasingly targeting individuals through social engineering tactics like fake SMS messages, fraudulent calls, malicious links, and identity theft, rather than solely exploiting technological vulnerabilities. This poses a strategic challenge for Bank Al-Maghrib as Morocco expands financial inclusion, develops digital payments, and reduces cash usage, making public trust in digital tools crucial. Bank Al-Maghrib's analysis, supported by the Financial Action Task Force, indicates that proceeds from cyber-scams often fuel international money laundering and other financial crimes. This broadens the scope of anti-phishing efforts to include financial integrity, involving banks, judicial authorities, financial intelligence services, and law enforcement. In response, Bank Al-Maghrib has reinforced its prudential framework, issuing a gu
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