After a difficult decade on the international stage for Morocco, Ziyech has emerged as a key figure in the country’s continued return to former glories, and will be hoping to end a long wait for tournament success after sealing qualification for the Cup of Nations last night.

Morocco’s place at the tournament was secured with two matches to spare when Burundi failed to beat the Central African Republic in yesterday’s early match, and they then guaranteed top spot in Group E following a goalless draw with Mauritania in the evening.

The next Africa Cup of Nations is scheduled to take place in Cameroon in January 2022 and would be the second edition of that competition Ziyech has competed in with Morocco.

The previous one was in 2019, when a young and talented, but inexperienced, squad travelled to Egypt with hopes of drastically improving their nation’s fortunes, having reached the semi-finals just once since the 1980s.

Ziyech started every game as they took the group stage by storm in 2019, winning all three matches without conceding a single goal to finish in first place ahead of the Ivory Coast.

However, their lack of tournament experience showed in the knockout stages, as they struggled to break down a stubbornly defensive Benin side in the last-16. Ziyech hit the post from the penalty spot with the last kick of injury time, but Morocco were eventually eliminated in a shoot-out despite dominating the game.

It was a similar story at the only other international tournament Ziyech has competed in, the previous year’s World Cup in Russia. It was the first time Morocco had qualified for that competition in 20 years and the then Ajax winger was an ever-present on that occasion too.

Ziyech stood out as his country’s star man, but despite some impressive performances and earning a 2-2 draw with Spain, they failed to make it out of a difficult group which also included European champions Portugal.

However, while Ziyech and Morocco suffered for going into the last Africa Cup of Nations and World Cup with almost no experience of international tournaments, they have been on an undeniable upward trend and those harsh lessons could provide the missing piece of the puzzle this time around.

Hopes are still high for this relatively young generation of Moroccan footballers now they have the experience to go with their talent – Ziyech being joined by the likes of Inter Milan wide-man Achraf Hakimi and Sevilla duo Yassine Bounou and Youssef En-Nesyri in their squad – having effectively had to start from scratch at international level.

With Ziyech also having gone from strength to strength in his own career over the last couple of years, and experienced international coach Vahid Halilhodzic at the helm, Morocco will be hoping 2022 is the tournament their talisman inspires them to turn the corner and end their 45-year wait for major silverware in Cameroon.