"Henri Michel was sacked for several reasons including the bad performance of the team in the Nations Cup," said Mohamed Ozal, deputy chairman of the country's Royal Football Federation.

Michel, who was under contract until 2010, has angered the political and sports authorities after blaming the players and the government for the CAN failure.

The former France coach said that there is no strategy to develop soccer in the country and that players lack discipline.

The players hit back at him and some of them threatened to quit the national duty as long as he will be in charge.

The situation came to a dead end and the decision was expected.

Assistant coach Jamel Fethi has been named as interim coach until the nomination of a new manager to lead the team in the World Cup 2010 qualifiers campaign.