Abdelkader Lecheheb

Born in Oujda, Lecheheb played football in his youth. He began playing with local sides USM Oujda and MC Oujda before moving to Casablanca where he played for Wydad Casablanca. A forward, Lecheheb scored 23 goals to lead Wydad to the 1975–76 Botola title. He finished playing football with a club in Switzerland. Lecheheb made 15 appearances for the Morocco national team.

Lecheheb earned degrees in law, and then received a doctorate in international relations in Geneva. He represented Morocco in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Switzerland before being appointed Abdellatif Filali's chief of staff in 1994. In 1998, he became Morocco's ambassador to Canada. He would be appointed ambassador to Japan before assuming the role of ambassador to Russia until 2019.