Walid Regragui

Walid Regragui
Regragui with Morocco in 2023
Personal information
Full name Hoalid Regragui
Date of birth (1975-09-23) 23 September 1975 (age 51)
Place of birth Corbeil-Essonnes, Essonne, France
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position Right-back
Youth career
Corbeil-Essonnes
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1998–1999 Racing Paris 17 (3)
1999–2001 Toulouse 37 (3)
2001–2004 Ajaccio 72 (3)
2004–2006 Racing Santander 25 (0)
2007 Dijon 10 (0)
2007–2009 Grenoble 39 (0)
2009–2010 Moghreb Tétouan
2010–2012 Fleury 91
Total 200 (9)
International career
2001–2009 Morocco 44 (0)
Managerial career
2014–2020 FUS
2020 Al-Duhail
2021–2022 Wydad AC
2022–2026 Morocco
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Morocco (as player)
Africa Cup of Nations
Runner-up2004
Representing  Morocco (as manager)
Winner2025
* Club domestic league appearances and goals

Hoalid Regragui (born 23 September 1975), known as Walid Regragui (Berber languages: ⵡⴰⵍⵉⴷ ⵔⴻⴳⵔⴰⴳⵉ, Arabic: وليد الركراكي), is a professional football manager and former player who played at right-back. He was most recently the head coach of the Morocco national team.

Born in France, he represented the Morocco national team as a player. He spent most of his club career in France, with spells in Spain and Morocco. As a coach, he led FUS Rabat and Wydad AC, winning the African Champions League in 2022 and the Moroccan league twice. He also managed Al Duhail in Qatar, winning the league. With Morocco, he led them to the semi-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup, making history as the first team from Africa and the Arab world to reach this stage. He then led Morocco as they qualified for the 2026 FIFA World Cup and won the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations on home soil before resigning.

Early life

Hoalid Regragui was born on 23 September 1975 in Corbeil-Essonnes, Essonne.

Playing career

Regragui was a full international for Morocco. Clubs he played for include Toulouse, AC Ajaccio, Grenoble and Racing Santander. In the summer of 2009, he moved from Grenoble to Moroccan club Moghreb Tétouan.

Regragui played in the Moroccan squad that reached the final of the 2004 AFCON, losing 1–2 to Tunisia.

Managerial career

Morocco

After retiring as a player, Regragui started his football coaching career as the assistant coach of Morocco's national team in September 2012.[citation needed]

FUS

On 8 May 2014, he landed a head coaching job with Fath Union Sport for the 2014–15 season. Following his league performances and Moroccan Throne Cup victory in 2014, he was named Mars d'Or Coach of the Year in March 2015.

On 22 January 2020, he left the club by mutual consent.

Wydad AC

On 10 August 2021, Regragui was appointed as the head coach of Botola side Wydad AC. The team went on to win the 2021–22 Botola in his first season.[citation needed] On 30 May 2022, he led Wydad AC to win its third CAF Champions League title, after beating defending champions Al Ahly in the final. He became only the second Moroccan manager to win the African Champions League, after Hussein Ammouta with Wydad in 2017. In December 2022, Regragui was nominated for the 2022 IFFHS World's Best Club Coach for his performance in the year in review with Wydad before becoming head coach of the Moroccan national team. He was subsequently adjudged the third best behind Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola.

Return to Morocco

On 31 August 2022, Regragui was appointed as the new head coach for the Morocco national team after the dismissal of former head coach Vahid Halilhodžić. On 21 September 2022, Regragui coached his first friendly game, which ended in a 1–0 victory against Madagascar.

In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, he led Morocco to the knockout stage for the first time since 1986, and to the quarter finals after beating Spain on penalties in the round of 16, making Morocco the fourth African nation and the first Arab nation to qualify for this stage in a World Cup competition. Regragui himself is the first African manager, and first Arab manager to reach this stage. Morocco would later beat favourite Portugal 1–0 and move on to the semi-finals, not only another first for Morocco, but also making them the first African team, and first Arab team to qualify for the semi-finals. However, they lost to France in the semi-final 2–0 on 14 December. Afterward, they finished in fourth place with a 2–1 loss against Croatia. After the World Cup concluded, Regragui was nominated for the 2022 IFFHS World's Best National Coach award. He placed third behind World Cup winning coach Lionel Scaloni and runner-up Didier Deschamps.

Between June 2024 and December 2025, Morocco enjoyed a strong run of form under Regragui, recording a streak of 19 consecutive victories in international matches, one of the longest winning runs for a national team manager. During this period, he also led Morocco to qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, becoming the first African nation to secure a place at the tournament.

At the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, hosted on home soil, he guided Morocco to the final, where they were awarded a 0–3 win to Senegal after the Senegalese team forfeited in the final. On 5 March 2026, he resigned from his role as head coach of the national team.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 18 January 2026
Team From To Record
GWDLWin %
FUS 1 June 2014 22 January 2020 186756348040.32
Al-Duhail 22 January 2020 3 October 2020 201316065.00
Wydad AC 10 August 2021 29 July 2022 483288066.67
Morocco 31 August 2022 5 March 2026 493784075.51
Total 3031578066051.82

Honours

Player

Ajaccio

Morocco

Individual

Manager

FUS

Al-Duhail

Wydad AC

Morocco

Individual

Order

References

  1. ↑ "Walid Regragui". L'Équipe (in French). Paris. Archived from the original on 13 August 2025.
  2. ↑ "Morocco – Record International Players". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  3. ↑ "Squad List: FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022: Morocco (MAR)" (PDF). FIFA. 18 December 2022. p. 19. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
  4. ↑ "Walid Regragui". L'Équipe (in French). Paris. Retrieved 24 October 2026.
  5. ↑ Excitement building in Morocco. FIFA. 27 August 2009.
  6. ↑ Fentuo, Fentuo Tahiru (10 January 2026). "AFCON 2025: Morocco "want to write history" after reaching first semi-final since 2004, says head coach Walid Regragui". Retrieved 6 March 2026.
  7. ↑ FUS Rabat sign new coach Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Magharebia. 9 May 2014.
  8. ↑ "Et les gagnants sont Badr Hari, Walid Regragui, Mehdi Benatia et Adam Lamhamdi". Le Matin (in French). 31 March 2015. Archived from the original on 14 March 2023. Retrieved 14 March 2023.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
  9. 1 2 "Mars d'Or 2014: les meilleurs sportifs du Maroc récompensés". Africa Top Sports (in French). 31 March 2015. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  10. ↑ "COMMUNIQUE DU FATH UNION SPORT" (in French). 22 January 2020. Archived from the original on 23 November 2022. Retrieved 24 January 2020.
  11. ↑ "الركراكي يوقع عقود انضمامه للوداد الرياضي كمدرب للفريق الأوّل" [Regragui signs his contracts with Wydad as coach of the first team.]. elbotola.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 10 August 2021.
  12. ↑ "El Moutaraji double delivers third TotalEnergies CAF Champions League title to Wydad". CAFOnline.com. Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  13. ↑ "الركراكي ثاني مدرب مغربي يتوج بلقب دوري أبطال أفريقيا". elbotola.com (in Arabic). Retrieved 13 June 2022.
  14. ↑ "IFFHS MEN'S WORLD BEST CLUB COACH 2022 - TOP 15". IFFHS. 24 December 2022. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  15. ↑ "IFFHS AWARDS 2022 - MEN'S WORLD BEST CLUB COACH". IFFHS. 9 January 2023. Retrieved 9 January 2023.
  16. ↑ "Walid Regragui confirmed as new Atlas Lions coach". HESPRESS English – Morocco News. 31 August 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  17. ↑ "Morocco appoint Walid Regragui as head coach". ESPN. 1 September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  18. ↑ "الركراكي يحقق أول فوز مع منتخب المغرب". Hespress – هسبريس جريدة إلكترونية مغربية (in Arabic). 21 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
  19. ↑ "Morocco cruise past Canada to make World Cup last 16 for first time since 1986". The National News. 1 December 2022.
  20. ↑ "Morocco beat Spain in penalties to reach Quarter finals". Africa News. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  21. ↑ "World Cup 2022: Morocco heads to quarter finals, eliminating Spain on penalties". Middle East Eye. 6 December 2022. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  22. ↑ Amir, Shady (7 December 2022). "Mr Avocado Head has Morocco daring to dream". Reuters. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  23. ↑ "Morocco vs Portugal - Betting Odds". Oddschecker. Archived from the original on 10 December 2022. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  24. ↑ Khalil, Shaimaa (11 December 2022). "World Cup 2022: 'We witnessed history as Morocco won'". BBC News. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  25. ↑ "Morocco 1–0 Portugal". FIFA. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  26. ↑ Byrne, Cal; Arun, Shubhankar; Child, David; Geiger, Dorian (10 December 2022). "Morocco vs Portugal 1-0: World Cup 2022 – as it happened". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  27. ↑ Quinn, Andrew (10 December 2022). "'Continental history': How the world reacted to Morocco's victory over Portugal – and Ronaldo's tears". The Telegraph. ISSN 0307-1235. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
  28. ↑ "Morocco beat Portugal to make World Cup history". BBC Sport. 10 December 2022. Retrieved 10 December 2022.
  29. ↑ "France 2–0 Morocco". FIFA. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  30. ↑ "Croatia 2–1 Morocco". FIFA. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  31. ↑ Rahhou, Jihane (25 December 2022). "Morocco's Walid Regragui Nominated for 2022 Best Coach Award". moroccoworldnews. Retrieved 25 December 2022.
  32. ↑ "IFFHS Awards 2022: Morocco's Regragui World 3rd Best National Coach | MapNews". www.mapnews.ma. 8 January 2023. Retrieved 12 January 2023.
  33. ↑ "IFFHS AWARDS 2022 - MEN'S WORLD BEST NATIONAL COACH". IFFHS. 8 January 2023. Retrieved 8 January 2023.
  34. ↑ "Morocco in History". IFFHS. 27 December 2025.
  35. ↑ "2026 World Cup: Morocco qualifies, Regragui hails the Atlas Lions". OneFootball. 7 September 2025.
  36. ↑ Wilson, Jonathan (19 January 2026). "Morocco's Regragui calls Thiaw 'shameful' after Afcon final descends into chaos". The Guardian.
  37. ↑ "CAF Appeal Board Media Statement". CAF. 17 March 2026.
  38. ↑ "Walid Regragui Bids Farewell as Morocco National Team Head Coach". Morocco World News. 5 March 2026.
  39. ↑ "نهاية مشوار المدرب وليد الركراكي مع الدحيل". استاد الدوحة (in Arabic). 30 September 2020.
  40. ↑ "AC Ajaccio".
  41. ↑ "African Nations Cup 2004". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  42. ↑ "AFCON 2004: CAF Team of the Tournament". www1.rfi.fr. Retrieved 15 March 2021.
  43. ↑ "Morocco select Regragui to lead them into a new sporting era". Atalayar. September 2022. Retrieved 21 September 2022.
  44. ↑ "Moroccan Throne Cup - 2021". Archived from the original on 8 December 2023. Retrieved 19 February 2025.
  45. ↑ "World Cup 2022". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation.
  46. ↑ "Mars d'Or: Benatia, Regragui et Hari meilleurs, footballeur, entraîneur et sportif 2014". Radio Mars. 31 March 2015. Archived from the original on 20 February 2016. Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  47. ↑ "الركراكي أفضل مدرب مغربي لسنة 2015".
  48. ↑ "الركراكي أفضل مدرب مغربي لسنة 2015". www.elbotola.com.
  49. ↑ "الركراكي أفضل مدرب مغربي لسنة 2015".
  50. ↑ Kitibri, A. (9 July 2022). "Wydad : Regragui désigné 'Meilleur' coach du Botola" [Wydad: Regragui named 'Best' coach of Botola]. L'Opinion Maroc (in French). Retrieved 14 March 2023.
  51. ↑ "Walid Regragui crowned best international Arab coach". HESPRESS English - Morocco News. 3 April 2023. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  52. ↑ Zouiten, Sara (3 April 2023). "Morocco's Walid Regragui Named Best Arab, International Coach". moroccoworldnews. Retrieved 3 April 2023.
  53. ↑ "Africa d'Or 2023: Walid Regragui élu Entraîneur Africain de la Saison !". August 2023.
  54. ↑ "Entraîneur africain de l'année : La belle pensée de Regragui pour Cissé après son sacre". 11 December 2023.