PARIS - Napoli midfielder Omar El Kaddouri was Friday named in the Morocco squad for the Africa Cup of Nations replacing Watford's Noureddine Amrabat who has been forced out of the tournament with an ankle injury.

Amrabat, who was hurt playing against Tottenham in the Premier League on January 1, is the latest in a series of injury setbacks for Morocco coach Herve Renard who has already lost Younes Belhanda and Oussama Tannane.

El Kaddouri, 27, has spent all of his professional playing career in Italy and joined Napoli in the summer of 2015.

Morocco will face defending champions Ivory Coast, Democratic Republic of Congo and Togo in the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations which starts in Gabon on January 14.

Morocco squad

Goalkeepers: Munir Mohamedi (Numancia/ESP), Yassine Bounou (Girona/ESP), Yassine El Kharroubi (Lokomotiv Plovdiv/BUL)

Defenders: Medhi Benatia (Juventus/ITA), Manuel Da Costa (Olympiakos/GRE), Amine Attouchi (Wydad Casablanca), Hamza Mendyl (Lille/FRA), Fouad Chafik (Dijon/FRA), Nabil Dirar (Monaco/FRA)

Midfielders: Romain Sass (Wolverhampton Wanderers/ENG), Youssef At Bennasser (Nancy/FRA), Mounir Obbadi (Lille/FRA), Karim El Ahmadi (Feyenoord/NED), Fayal Fajr (Deportivo/ESP), M'bark Boussoufa (Al Jazira/UAE), Sofiane Boufal (Southampton/ENG), Mehdi Carcela (Granada/ESP), Omar El Kaddouri (Napoli/ITA), Aziz Bouhaddouz (St Pauli/GER)

Forwards: Rachid Alioui (Nmes/FRA), Youssef El Arabi (Lekhwiya/QAT), Khalid Boutaib (Strasbourg/FRA), Youssef Ennesyri (Malaga/ESP)