Manchester United frustrated by Morocco over Mazraoui’s early AFCON call-up

Before the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, FIFA announced that clubs only need to release all selected players at least seven days ahead of their opening game. Morocco, the host nation for this year’s AFCON, will kick off their campaign against Comoros on 21 December, just six days after United face Bournemouth.

Man United head coach Ruben Amorim said on Friday that talks were ongoing with the relevant national associations regarding the release of Mazraoui, Bryan Mbeumo and Amad Diallo for AFCON. While Mbeumo and Amad were cleared to remain for Monday’s match, Morocco took a different stance.

Due to the short gap between the two matches, the Moroccan FA decided to prevent Mazraoui from playing in United’s game against Bournemouth at Old Trafford. The former Bayern Munich defender would likely have been cleared to play if the match had not been rescheduled into a Monday evening broadcast slot. 

According to ESPN, United had intended to use Mazraoui before Morocco rejected the request, prompting the club to escalate the issue to FIFA. Ultimately, FIFA backed Morocco’s decision, as it was in line with their pre-tournament guidelines.

The report states that United’s management felt they were “unfairly punished” after their Premier League match was moved to Monday. This change was beyond their control. 

Mazraoui had trained as normal with Amorim’s squad last week and remained “professional and respectful” throughout the dispute between club and country. The 28-year-old is understood to have left for international duty on Sunday night.

Mazraoui, Amad, and Mbeumo could miss up to three more Premier League matches. They would also be unavailable for the FA Cup third-round home tie against Brighton if their national teams reach the AFCON final on 18 January.