MOROCCO, knocked out in the first round of the Africa Cup of Nations, fired French coach Henri Michel yesterday.
"Henri Michel was sacked for several reasons including the bad performance of the team in the Nations Cup," said Mohamed Ozal, deputy chairman of the country's Royal Football Federation.
Ozal said Jamel Fethi would replace Michel in a caretake
r role until a full-time coach was hired. Michel was recruited in the hope he could lead Morocco to the later stages of the Nations Cup in Ghana.
Local newspapers said the coach had angered top officials by blaming the lack of a government strategy to develop soccer, as well as bad discipline and behaviour among his players.
Michel took over in October after M'Hamed Fakhir was dismissed.
The much-travelled Michel, who was in charge of Ivory Coast at the 2006 World Cup in Germany, had a previous spell as Morocco coach when he steered them to the 1998 World Cup in France, where they beat Scotland.
Meanwhile, the Confederation of African Football (CAF) has confirmed that players absent from the African Footballer of the Year ceremony were ruled out of contention for the award.
"The executive committee of CAF at its meeting held in Accra on 1 February decided that henceforth any player who is absent at its award ceremony will not be taken into consideration in its placements of best African footballer of the year," said CAF in a statement.
"This decision was communicated to all those concerned on 1 February with particular reference to the award ceremony scheduled for the same day in Lome, Togo."
The statement came one day after CAF chief communications director Suleiman Habuba denied telling Didier Drogba and Frederic Kanoute they had to attend the ceremony to have a chance of winning.
"CAF has never called Didier Drogba or Frederic Kanoute to tell them if they did not attend the ceremony they would not get the award," Habuba said.
Mali and Sevilla striker Kanoute, who attended the ceremony, won the award last Friday. Ivory Coast and Chelsea forward Drogba opted not to go to Togo.
Drogba said a CAF official had warned him the award would go to Kanoute if the Ivorian did not travel to Lome.
The full article contains 380 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
