"No negotiations have taken place" with Luis Fernandez, Fassi Fihri told the Moroccan biweekly sports paper "Al Mountakhab".

    For the moment, no coach has been selected to lead the Lions of Atlas, he said, adding that many discussions have started, but they have been stalled due to financial issues.

    Fassi Fihri said the next coach of the national team will be up to the expectations of Moroccans and will be selected according to the criteria set in the contract-programme signed between the football federation and the Sports ministry, especially to qualify to the 2014 World Cup.

    French media reported on Tuesday that the negotiations between Morocco's Football Federation and Fernandez reached advanced stage, underlining that the ex-coach of the French Club Paris Saint-German is close to lead the Moroccan National Team.

    "In fifteen days or three weeks, I will lead a national team. I will start over a sport project in good conditions," Fernandez told the French paper Le Parisien.