Morocco Call-Up: Ilias Akhomach Replaces Brahim Diaz

The Moroccan Football Federation has lit a fuse without offering many answers. Ilias Akhomach is in. Someone else is out. No one is saying who.

What should have been a routine call-up has turned into a guessing game around one name: Brahim Diaz.

Spanish newspaper AS reported on Tuesday night that all signs point to the Real Madrid attacker being the player sacrificed, after the physical issues that have dogged him in recent weeks. The same outlet revealed on Monday that Diaz had been playing his last matches through intense pain, pushing his body to its limit to stay on the pitch.

That detail suddenly makes his absence from the current Morocco squad easier to understand. It also sharpens the focus on the federation’s silence. No official confirmation has arrived, no statement explaining the change, just the quiet addition of Akhomach to the list and a blank space where a name used to be.

For now, the indications are clear enough: Diaz is expected to sit out Morocco’s games against Gabon and Lesotho, and then miss the high-profile friendly against Ghana as well, to give his body a badly needed pause.

Akhomach steps in

Into that space steps Ilias Akhomach, rewarded again for his persistence and his choice of flag.

The Villarreal forward, born in Pierola in the Barcelona area, could easily have followed a different international path. Instead, he committed to Morocco, the country of his roots, and now sees that decision pay off with another call from coach Mohamed Ouahbi.

At 22, Akhomach already has 13 caps, but he is still chasing his first goal for the national team. This window hands him another chance to change that statistic, to turn promise into something more concrete in the final third. With Diaz likely resting, the door on the right side of Morocco’s attack swings a little wider.

Diaz forced to pause

On the other side of this story stands Brahim Diaz, a player Jose Mourinho has leaned on heavily since the start of the season. The coach’s selections and public backing have made the Moroccan a key piece on Real Madrid’s right flank, a trusted outlet in a team full of stars.

Across four seasons in Madrid, Diaz has never looked closer to being an automatic starter. His recent form suggested a player finally locking down his place. Then came the physical problems, severe enough that he played through “strong pain,” according to AS, before finally having to stop.

That kind of strain carries a price. The international break, usually a showcase, now becomes a reset button. Skipping Morocco’s matches may sting in the short term, but it offers something far more valuable: time. Time to rest. Time to heal. Time to make sure this is a brief interruption, not the start of a longer struggle.

If the gamble pays off, Morocco and Real Madrid will get back a fresher, sharper Brahim Diaz. The question is how much ground he and Akhomach will have traded by then.