Lemerre's Departure Made Official
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The departure of Roger Lemerre from his post as Morocco’s national coach was made official on Thursday, ending weeks of speculation over the future of the veteran French trainer.
Lemerre leaves a year into his four-year contract after a resolution of pay-off terms was reached with the Morocco Football Federation, spokesman Abdelah Ghellam told reporters.
Lemerre, who won the European Championship with France in 2000 and four years later achieved a unique double by guiding Tunisia to the African Nations Cup, began his tenure with Morocco in July last year with the mandate of securing World Cup qualification.
But after an easy passage through the first phase of the 2010 preliminaries, Morocco have stumbled dramatically in their final round group, picking up just two points from their first three matches.
A goalless draw with Togo at home last month led to widespread speculation over the 68-year-old’s future and as rumours gathered pace this week, his departure was finalised after a meeting of the federation in Rabat on Thursday.
Lemerre coached France at the 2002 World Cup where they crashed out in the first round in defence of their title and was in Germany in 2006 at the helm of Tunisia.
