The ball – “Hurricane Al-Raqraqi”: the economist who put the Arab world under his feet in three months (Morocco)

With the entry of Portugal and Morocco at Al-Thumama Stadium in Doha, on Saturday, the tenth of this month (at 3 pm from the mainland of Portugal), for the duel for the quarter-finals of the World Cup in Qatar, in the Arab region. The world, which in the “Atlas Lions” is the first team to reach this advanced stage in 22 World Cup finals since 1930 – and the fourth time that Africa has a representative in the top eight – will be more curious about Walid Regragui, a Moroccan born in France, The 47-year-old, who has given the team three months at the helm of pragmatic leadership, whether or not he has a degree in economics and social sciences.

The “Hurricane of Regiraki”, as the press calls it – and it is good to remember – was at the head of the “Atlas Lions” for just over three months, or 100 days: on August 31, the Moroccan Federation officially announced the successor of the Bosnian Vahid Halilodzic, whose stubbornness ended with the annexation of Ziyech – Chelsea striker, along with Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain, the biggest star of the national team) – in the group for Qatar, due to the wear and tear of the confrontation with the team. Al-Ittihad, commissioned the former Yugoslavia international and took over the job coaching.

Needless to say, the level of success that Walid Regragui has achieved in Morocco is truly astounding…and the same in just three months.

He is the first African to make a selection from the Black Continent to the World Cup “Quarters” – so far, in the previous three presences of teams from Africa in the “Quarters”, they have always had technicians and “know-hows” from other latitudes (and continents) at the helm: Aliens.

Born in Corbeill-Essones, a suburb south of Paris – he also holds French nationality -, Walid Regragui was a right-footed defender, despite passing cautiously through the first and second echelons of France and Spain – RC Paris, Toulouse, Ajaccio, Racing de Santander, Sporting Gijon , Grenoble, among others – he added 45 caps with the “Atlas Lions”. As for the clubs he represented, only with the crest of Corsica (Ajaccio) he celebrated the French Second Division title in 2001/2002. That is why, in 2012/13, he was not surprised by his first call to become an assistant to the Moroccan national team.

The remaining impression was good. And the former right-back, who converts to the Islamic religion and religiously celebrates the month of Ramadan and fasting, completed his training as a coach in nine years.

Regragui started for Al Futtah Rabat in 2012/13, but in 2020 he caught the eye with a Qatar champion title in Al Duhail. And he returned to Morocco to lead the Wydad Sports Club, from Casablanca, to the national title and win the African Championship in July of this year.

But when he leaves football, the “straw” in economic and social sciences, an academic diploma to dedicate to the parental pressure that made him never neglect his studies – on pain of being able to stop playing football, in the youth teams of the Racing de Paris – will give way.

If Portugal has Fernando Santos, with a degree in Electronics and Communications Engineering, at the head of the selection, and for eight years now, on the “other side”, Morocco brings us a “phenomenon” that has passed the selection, in three months of certification in Regragui Economics It really is a “case study”. Prepare.