Morocco's Jamal Fathi: "To have good players, we need good coaches"

In an interview conducted in November 2021, while he held the role of Interim Training Director at the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Jamal Fathi explained his role and the overall approach behind Morocco's player development pathway. He also set out the FRMF's objectives for its national sides and the key attributes he looks for in a good coach.

The core areas of focus of Fathi's role are:

• Developing a coach education programme that spans across Morocco's clubs and regions;

• Fulfilling the talent of young Moroccan players by improving fitness levels and tactical knowledge; and

• Helping Morocco A and B teams reach the CAF Africa Cup of Nations and FIFA World Cup.™
  

Part 1: Role profile and Moroccan football culture
In the first part of his conversation with the FIFA Training Centre, Fathi explains the scope of his role, which covers everything from coach education to overseeing a large part of FRMF's youth system. He then moves on to talk about how Morocco's traditional football culture has produced generations of exciting technical players, but has tended to neglect other important attributes, such as athleticism.

Part 2: Morocco's training philosophy
In this section, Fathi outlines the two key aspirations at the core of the FRMF's approach to player development; getting to the last four of the CAF Africa Cup of Nations tournaments and showing well at the FIFA World Cup.™ From a structural standpoint, Morocco's youth development pathway is run on traditional lines from the age of 6, with academies all over the country. There are two national training centres, complemented by the privately-run Muhammad VI Academy.

Part 3: Coach education
Fathi is well aware that you cannot develop good players without good coaches, and this is one reason why Morocco was the first federation to sign up to the new CAF Coaching Convention. The federation has also set up a dedicated physical performance centre in order to address one of the national side's key weaknesses in recent years, and to propel them to top of the African game.

Part 4: The vision: what makes a good coach
Here Fathi sets out the key attributes he expects to see in a coach. As he points out, it is not enough for coaches to know and love the game; they also need to be willing to learn and able to nurture and motivate the people around them.

Part 5: Coach education at the FRMF
In order to train the next generation of coaches, the federation has established a team of coach educators with a mandate to develop technical ability, tactical expertise, physical fitness and mental strength. They deliver practical coach education sessions at clubs, adapting the principles of the federation's approach to each team's individual playing style. There is a strong emphasis on teamwork and encouraging coaches to apply the same concepts across age groups.