Morocco national football team coach Herve Renard has announced his departure from his post after the team's participation in the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, thanking the country's football association and players for support during the past three and half years.

"It's time for me to close this long and beautiful chapter of my life, not without some emotion and sadness, but it is an inevitable decision taken well before AFCON 2019," Renard said in a statement released on Sunday.

"I took this decision after having – of course – carefully considered, it is therefore irreversible and Mr Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, has just been informed of it in an official manner," he added.

"I would like to extend my warmest thanks to His Majesty the Mohammed VI King, for all efforts to develop sport and football in particular. I would like also thanks the Prince Moulay Hassan as well as the entire Royale family," Renard said.

Morocco, who won the African cup once in 1976, were eliminated from the African tournament after losing to Benin in the round of 16 by penalty shootouts.

The team reached the knockout stage after three successive wins in the group stage over Namibia, Cote d'Ivoire, and South Africa.

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