Belhanda Reflects on World Cup Exclusion and Grudge Against Regragui

Younès Belhanda carries 59 caps, a decade of service and a lingering scar. Two years on from Morocco’s historic World Cup run in Qatar, the 36-year-old admits the pain of watching it from afar has never really eased — and his anger is firmly directed at Walid Regragui.

Now at Al-Sailiya in Qatar, the former Montpellier playmaker has spoken with striking honesty about the decision that cut him out of the story just as the Atlas Lions prepared to write their most glorious chapter.

“Even today, I still hold a grudge against Walid Regragui. I did not understand it,” he said on “Rio Ferdinand Presents”, in comments reported by Spanish newspaper Marca on Friday.

He did not dance around the feeling. He named it: resentment, bitterness, hurt.

“He did not even call me, nothing at all! It was very painful, and I have not got over it even now.”

From Hope to Silence

Belhanda’s exclusion from the 2022 World Cup squad surprised many. For him, it cut deeper because of his history with Regragui.

Their relationship was not distant or formal. They had worked together before, stayed in regular contact, and when Regragui replaced Vahid Halilhodzic, Belhanda felt a door creak open again.

“I had spent two years without being called up to the Morocco national team, and my relationship with Walid Regragui was very close,” he explained. “He was my assistant coach, and we talked a lot. Then he called me to call me up to the team right before the World Cup, and gave me hope.”

That hope did not survive the final squad announcement.

“It did not destroy me, but it certainly affected me,” he admitted.

The omission itself was one thing. The way it happened, in Belhanda’s eyes, was something else entirely. When the list dropped, there was no conversation, no warning, no justification.

“On the day the squad was announced, I called him, but he did not answer,” Belhanda said. “I just wanted an explanation. Be a man and tell me: ‘Younès, I make my decisions.’ I was no longer 15 years old, I was 32. I would have understood it, and accepting it would have been easier.”

The phone never rang back.

“But there was not even a single call, nothing! It was very painful, and I have not got over it even now.”

A Historic Run, Watched From a Distance

As Morocco marched into history in Qatar — first African and Arab nation to reach a World Cup semi-final — the country erupted. A generation of players became legends. The Atlas Lions became a global story.

Belhanda, once at the heart of this team, cut himself off.

“I did not care, and I did not even watch the matches,” he said.

That blunt confession underlines just how deep the wound went. This was not simply a veteran upset at missing one last tournament. It was a player who felt shut out of a moment he had helped build towards, without even the courtesy of a conversation.

The detachment did not end with Qatar. It seeped into how he experienced Morocco’s later battles as well.

He recalled watching the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal and realising how much had changed inside him.

“I watched the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal, but I did not follow it the way I follow Morocco national team matches,” he said, his words edged with bitterness. “You can see how far this anger reached.”

A national hero to many, a World Cup pioneer to the world, Regragui remains an icon in Moroccan football. For Younès Belhanda, he is also the man at the centre of a silence that still stings — and a World Cup that will always feel unfinished.