Africa Cup 2015 CAF
2015 AFRICA CUP - MOROCCO FAILS TO MEET DEADLINE

Morocco have failed to meet the deadline to confirm it will host the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations in January.

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8 Nov 2014
Africa Cup 2015 CAF Featured
2015 AFRICA CUP - CAF GIVES MOROCCO NEW DEADLINE

The Confederation of African Football has reiterated it will not move the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations from January and has given Morocco until Saturday to decide if they will host as scheduled.

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3 Nov 2014
Africa Cup 2015 CAF Featured
2015 AFRICA CUP - CAF - NO CHANGES TO THE SCHEDULE BECAUSE OF EBOLA OUTBREAK

Morocco's government has written to the Confederation of African Football to delay the 17 January to 8 February event because of the Ebola outbreak.

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13 Oct 2014
Africa Cup 2015 CAF Featured
2015 AFRICA CUP - MOROCCO - Africa Cup of Nations should be postponed after Ebola outbreak

The biennial competition is scheduled to be held between 17 January and 8 February 2015.

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10 Oct 2014
Africa Cup 2015 Friendly National teams
2015 AFRICA CUP - Hosts Morocco beat Libya in friendly - 2:0

Libya were knocked out of qualifying for next January's Nations Cup finals by Rwanda in the first round.

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9 Sep 2014
Club Stars in Europe Transfers
TRANSFER - MOROCCO - Aston Villa's El Ahmadi joins Feyenoord

Transfer deadline day - The 29-year-old played for the Dutch club between 2008-2012, spending the first half of 2011 on loan at United Arab Emirates side Al Ahli.

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2 Sep 2014
Club Transfers
TRANSFER - MOROCCO - Bayern Munich sign Roma defender Mehdi Benatia

The 27-year-old, who helped Roma finish second in Serie A last season, had been linked with a move to Premier League sides Chelsea and Manchester United.

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28 Aug 2014
Club Transfers
TRANSFER - MOROCCO - Marseille sign Abdelaziz Barrada

Barrada started his career at Paris Saint-Germain before making his name in Spain with Getafe. The 25-year-old scored 15 goals in 34 appearances for Al Jazira last season.

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17 Aug 2014
Coaches National teams
NATIONAL TEAM - MOROCCO - COACH - former player Badou Zaki confirmed as new coach

Zaki takes charge of the Atlas Lions for the second time in his career.

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3 May 2014
African Confederation Cup Fixtures+Results
African Confederation Cup 2014: play offs - 2nd leg - fixtures & results

Fixtures and results for the 2014 Confed Cup.
2013 champions: CS Sfaxien (Tunisia)

Winners advance to group stage

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29 Apr 2014
Morocco

Mehdi Benatia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 12/2014


Personal information
Full name:
Mehdi Amine El Mouttaqi Benatia

Date of birth:
17 April 1987

Place of birth:
Courcouronnes, France

Height:
1.89 m

Playing position:
Centre back

Club information
Current team:
Bayern Munich

Number:
5


YOUTH CAREER


Clairefontaine
2000-2002


Guingamp
2002-2003


Marseille
2003-2005

 

SENIOR CAREER 


Marseille
2005-2008
0x apps / 0x goal


→ Tours (loan)
2006-2007
29x apps / 0x goal


→ Lorient (loan)
2007-2008
0x apps / 0x goal


Clermont
2008-2010
56x apps / 2x goals


Udinese
2010-2013
80x apps / 6x goals


Roma
2013-2014
33x apps / 5x goals


Bayern Munich
2014-
7x apps / 1x goal

 

NATIONAL TEAM‡


France U-18
2005
1x apps / 0x goal


Morocco U-20
2006-2007
4x apps / 0x goal


Morocco
2008-
31x apps / 1x goal


* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 16:24, 13 December 2014 (UTC).
† Appearances (Goals).
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 7 September 2013


Mehdi Amine El Mouttaqi Benatia, born 17 April 1987, is a Moroccan footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Morocco national team as a centre back.


EARLY LIFE


Benatia was born in Courcouronnes, France, to a Moroccan father and an Algerian mother.

 

CLUB CAREER


Marseille

Benatia joined Marseille in 2003, and signed his first professional contract with them two years later.

After loan spells at Tours and Lorient, he left for Ligue 2 club Clermont on 1 July 2008 on a free transfer.


Udinese

On 1 July 2010, Benatia signed for Serie A club Udinese Calcio, again on a free transfer. He made 80 league appearances for Udinese, scoring six goals.


Roma

On 13 July 2013, Benatia signed for Roma on a five-year contract in a €13.5 million transfer, with Nico López and Valerio Verre going the other way on co-ownership as part of the same deal.

On 26 September, Benatia scored his first goal for the club in a 2:0 victory against Sampdoria. 

After further goals against Bologna, Catania and Chievo Verona in the second half of the season, he ended the season with five goals from 33 games.


Bayern Munich

On 27 August 2014, Bayern Munich announced that they had signed Benatia on a five-year deal for a fee of €26 million.

Bayern Munich beat Manchester City, Chelsea, Barcelona and Real Madrid, who were also interested in signing him.

On 17 September 2014, made his official debut for Bayern in a (1:0) home win against Manchester City, for the opening match of the 2014-15 UEFA Champions League season, where he played for 85 minutes, completing 93% of his passes.

In the return match at Manchester City, he was sent off in the 20th minute for denying Sergio Agüero a clear goalscoring opportunity; the subsequent penalty was converted by Agüero and City went on to win 3:2.

Benatia scored his first goal for Bayern on 13 December, opening the scoring in a 4:0 win at FC Augsburg with a header; this result put his club 10 points clear at the top of the Bundesliga table.