Jamal Sellami

When the Jordan Football Association announced in June 2024 that Jamal Sellami would take over the senior national team, the reaction was lukewarm. Jordan had just lost their Asian Cup final to Qatar four months earlier under Hussein Ammouta; Sellami, a Moroccan, was leaving a club job at FUS Rabat. He had never managed outside Morocco. The three-year contract was perceived as a sideways move for the federation. A year later, he was a national hero with Jordanian citizenship granted by royal decree.

Sellami’s playing career was that of a hard-working defensive midfielder — Olympique Casablanca, Raja Casablanca, briefly Beşiktaş in Turkey — and one appearance for Morocco at the 1998 World Cup in France. As a coach he climbed methodically through the Moroccan pyramid: Difaa El Jadida, Hassania Agadir, FUS Rabat, then federation roles with the U17s, U20s, and the home-based senior team that won the African Nations Championship in 2018. The big club job came at Raja Casablanca, where he delivered the 2019-20 Botola Pro title. He returned to FUS Rabat in 2022 and stayed until the Jordan offer arrived.

Tactically, Sellami’s Jordan is a pure 4-2-3-1 organisation team. Two destroyers screen the centre-backs; the wingers tuck in to deny passing lanes; Al-Tamari is the only player consistently licensed to roam. In possession, the team plays direct — long balls to Ali Olwan, second-phase combinations through Al-Tamari, set pieces meticulously worked. Jordan went unbeaten through the third round of AFC qualifying (4W-4D), and the qualifying-clinching 3-0 win over Oman in Muscat in June 2025 was a tactical masterclass: a low block for 30 minutes, a counterattacking goal, then a controlled second half.

His public profile in Jordan is now enormous. King Abdullah II granted him citizenship in late 2025 — a rare honour usually reserved for athletes and diplomats. The realistic expectation for Group J is one point and an honourable exit, but Sellami’s defensive systems have humbled bigger sides before; the 2024 Asian Cup run that he inherited the structure of saw South Korea beaten 2-0 in the semi-final. Don’t expect Jordan to outscore anyone. Do expect them to be uncomfortable to play against.