Mohamed Wahbi Begins Overhaul of Morocco’s World Cup Squad

The World Cup is over. The shake-up is only just beginning.

Barely weeks after Morocco’s quarter-final exit at the 2026 World Cup, head coach Mohamed Wahbi has moved from reflection to reconstruction, preparing a bold overhaul of the Atlas Lions squad ahead of the September international window.

The message is clear: loyalty has its limits. Performance doesn’t.

Federation backs Wahbi – and his revolution

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation had already made its call. Despite the 2–0 defeat to France in the last eight of a tournament staged across the United States, Canada and Mexico, Wahbi stays. No panic, no rushed divorce after a respectable run.

But continuity on the bench does not mean continuity on the pitch.

Freed from the immediate pressure of a major tournament, Wahbi has begun to reassess almost every line of his World Cup roster. He has identified a glaring issue: not enough variety, not enough impact from the bench, not enough different profiles to change a game when it turns against Morocco.

So he is reaching for the scalpel.

Six World Cup faces set to miss September squad

According to Moroccan outlet Sport7, Wahbi has already settled on dropping six players who were part of his World Cup squad from the group expected to be named for the September international break.

The casualties are big, familiar names.

• Ayoub El Kaabi, a proven finisher and one of the most recognisable attacking figures in recent Moroccan squads, is set to miss out.
• Sofyan Amrabat, long seen as a pillar in midfield, is also on the list of expected omissions.
• Amine Sbai
• Youssef Belammari
• Marwan Saadane
• Goalkeeper Munir Mohamedi, another experienced campaigner whose presence around the national team has stretched over several years.

For a coach who built trust in a core group through qualifying and into the World Cup, that is a hard reset.

Sport7 also reports that more names could follow. Halhal and Amimoni are among those at risk as Wahbi pushes on with what is fast becoming a deep restructuring rather than a light refresh.

No sentiment. No half-measures.

Fresh blood, new ideas

This is not a cosmetic clean-up. Wahbi wants a different Morocco.

He is expected to call up a number of new players for the international camp scheduled at the end of September, using that window as a live laboratory to test fresh options and reshape his tactical blueprint.

The objective is twofold: increase variety and raise quality.

He wants more competition for places, more tactical flexibility, more answers when Plan A runs into a wall. The World Cup exposed the limits of a squad that could control long stretches of matches, yet struggled to find alternative solutions when chasing a game against elite opposition.

So the door opens for new profiles across the pitch. Players who can inject pace, unpredictability, or composure in tight spaces. A deeper bench that can genuinely alter the rhythm of a match, not just hold it.

The pressure of a World Cup has gone. The pressure to evolve has not.

Morocco now enters a fascinating phase: a trusted coach, a federation that has backed him, and a squad about to be shaken to its core. The next list Wahbi reads out in September will say plenty about where the Atlas Lions are heading – and who gets to be part of that journey.