Morocco fire coach Halilhodzic ahead of World Cup

World Cup qualifiers Morocco have split with coach Vahid Halilhodzic three months ahead of the finals in Qatar.

the fall-out appears to have come over Halilhodzic's handling of two of his star players.

He sidelined Chelsea's Hakim Ziyech and Noussair Mazraoui of Ajax for disciplinary reasons and qualified for the World Cup withouth them but it seems the federation wanted them back.

"We came to an amiable agreement to part ways due to divergences on preparations for the World Cup," the Moroccan federation said.

Neither Ziyech and Mazraoui were part of the squad that reached the quarter-finals of the African Cup of Nations in Cameroon in January and Halilhodzic omitted both from the World Cup qualifying play-off matches against the Democratic Republic of Congo in March.

The World Cup starts November 20 in Qatar where Morocco take on Croatia, Belgium and Canada in Group F.

Halilhodzi has previously qualified for the World Cup finals with Ivory Coast and Japan.

© Agence France-Presse