Wydad have suffered a fresh blow in the summer transfer window. Rivals FAR Rabat have moved strongly to sign defender Ferji Karmoun, just as the red club battles to settle the mounting disputes that now threaten its ability to register new signings before the coming season.
FAR Rabat entered the race for Karmoun this summer as part of their bid to strengthen a defence weakened by the departures of Yunis Abdelhamid and Nouh El Abd.
Wydad had struck first, winning the green light from the player and from the management of Olympic Safi. Then FAR Rabat entered the negotiations and changed everything.
The military side tabled a financial offer bigger than Wydad's, and Karmoun's move to the red club duly collapsed.
According to Moroccan website "Sport7", the development prompted Olympic Safi to raise their demands, deciding to hand Karmoun to whichever club submits the best financial offer.
New rulings from FIFA
There was more bad news elsewhere. FIFA's Dispute Resolution Chamber issued a fresh ruling against Wydad in a case involving one of the team's former foreign players.
That takes the number of final rulings against the club to five. Wydad's management must now settle these files in full to lift the transfer ban and register their new players.
Club president Brahim El Assri is pressing on with intensive efforts to close the disputes that piled up over the past period, after the previous administration under Hicham Ait Menna left behind a swathe of cases.
The club must now resolve five files with FIFA, plus more than seven presented before the National Disputes Committee, according to website "Sport7".
Moves to keep Benabid
Alongside the dispute files, El Assri is working to keep his key players before the new season kicks off. Wydad have opened advanced negotiations with goalkeeper El Mehdi Benabid, hoping to convince him to renew and stay.
Moroccan website "Le360 Sport" revealed that Wydad put a new offer to Benabid after rushing to settle all his financial dues. The goalkeeper will make his final decision within the coming days.
El Assri, the report added, found himself facing a tangle of files left behind by the previous phase, with a number of players turning to the disputes committee to claim their dues or to secure the unilateral termination of their contracts. The current management must keep working to resolve these crises before the new season begins.