Hakim Ziyech, the star of Turkish club Galatasaray, has sparked controversy with a surprising decision after being left out of the Moroccan national team during the ongoing international break.
The Moroccan national team beat their Central African counterpart (9-0) on aggregate, for the third and fourth rounds of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers, and Ziyech was among those absent.
The absence of Ziyech raises questions
Walid Regragui, the coach of the Moroccan national team, explained the reason why Ziyech was not called to the October camp, pointing out that the player is suffering from an injury, which is why he did not recently participated with Galatasaray.
This clarification came in response to requests from Moroccan fans who questioned the reason for Ziyech’s absence, while some linked the matter to a “Story” post on his Instagram account, in which he criticized the governments of his country, Morocco, and others because of the Palestinian question.
Deleting his photos with the national team increases the controversy
In a further step that raised questions, Hakim Ziyech deleted most of his photos with the Moroccan national team from his Instagram account, sparking a lot of interaction among fans.
While some believed that Ziyech would remain popular with Moroccan fans, others felt that his current level did not qualify him to play with the “Lions of the Atlas”.
Ziyech’s future with national team unclear
Until now, there has been no official statement from Ziyech regarding his future with the Moroccan national team. Even though his absence coincided with his injury, confirmed by his coach Regragui, the question remains open as to the international’s future.
Ziyech’s statistics with club and national team
Hakim Ziyech has missed Galatasaray’s last 5 matches in the Turkish League due to injury, and this season he has only appeared in 4 matches in all competitions without scoring any goals or providing any assists.
At the international level, Ziyech has 64 matches with the Moroccan national team, in which he has scored 25 goals, and was one of the pillars of the team that reached the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
