Morocco defied all expectations at the 2022 FIFA World Cup, topping their group containing Croatia, Canada and Belgium. Morocco also eliminated Spain and Portugal to become the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup, and the second African semi-finalist in an official senior world championship, the other being Egypt in the 1928 Olympics. They were also the third ever World Cup semi-finalist not from Europe or South America. Morocco were knocked out by France in the semi-finals and lost the third place play-off to Croatia, therefore finishing in 4th-place, their highest ever finish. Morocco is set to become the second African nation, the second MENA nation, the first North African nation and the first Amazigh nation to host the World Cup when it was granted host status for the 2030 edition alongside the two European countries Portugal and Spain.
The Atlas Lions were ranked 10th in the FIFA World Rankings in April 1998. They were ranked as the top African national team for three consecutive years, from 1997 to 1999, and again since December 2022. As of July 2024, Morocco is ranked as the 14th best national team in the world.[4]
The Moroccan national team was founded in 1928 and played its first game on 22 December of that year against the B team of France, to whom it lost 2–1. This team, formed by the best footballers of the LMFA or the Moroccan Football League (settlers or natives), was active in friendly matches against other North African teams such as those of Algeria and Tunisia. These associations of settler clubs and local footballers, in addition to having their own championship, clashed with each other in a tournament that Morocco won several times, such as in 1948–1949.
The LMFA also faced some club teams such as NK Lokomotiva Zagreb in January 1950, as well as France A and France B. Against France A the LMFA made a 1–1 draw in Casablanca in 1941.
On 9 September 1954, an earthquake struck the Algerian region of Orléansville (now Chlef) and caused the destruction of the city and the death of over 1,400 people. On 7 October 1954, the French Football Association and the Maghreb inhabitants organized a charity match to raise funds for the families of the victims of the catastrophic event. In the match, held at the Parc de Princes in Paris, a team made up of Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians played against the national team of France. Led by star Larbi Benbarek, the Maghreb selection managed to win 3–2, a month before the Toussaint Rouge attacks by the Algerian National Liberation Front which marked the beginning of the Algerian War.
On 19 October 1957, at the 2nd edition of the Arab Games in Lebanon, Morocco made its debut as an independent country against Iraq, at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, and drew 3–3. At the tournament, Morocco took the first win in its history against Libya, winning 5–1, then beat Tunisia 3–1 to reach the semi-finals. After a 1–1 draw with Syria, lots were drawn to decide who would progress to the final, and Syria were selected at Morocco's expense. Morocco withdrew from the third-place play-off against Lebanon and finished fourth overall.[5]
Between 1957 and 1958, Morocco held numerous friendly matches against the National Liberation Front team, the representative of Algeria before its independence in 1958. In 1959, the team took part for the first time in an international competition, the qualifying rounds of the 1960 Rome Olympics. Drawn into a group with Tunisia and Malta, Morocco finished second on goal difference and failed to progress. That same year, the football federation of Morocco joined FIFA.
In 1960, Morocco competed in World Cup qualification for the first time. Drawn against Tunisia in the first round, Morocco won the first leg 2–1, while Tunisia won the second leg 2–1. A play-off held in Palermo, Italy also finished in a tie, so a coin toss was used to determine who progressed. Morocco won the toss, and beat Ghana 1–0 on aggregate to reach the inter-continental play-offs. Drawn against Spain, Morocco lost 4–2 on aggregate and thus failed to qualify.
In 1961, Morocco held the Pan-Arab Games and won the football tournament, winning all five of their matches. Their third match, against Saudi Arabia, resulted in Morocco's biggest-ever victory, winning 13–1.[6] They also claimed their first two wins against a European team, beating East Germany 2–1 and 2–0.
In 1963, the Moroccan team came close to qualifying for the African Cup of Nations. In the decisive play-off against Tunisia, they were defeated 4–1 in Tunis and won 4–2 at home, therefore being eliminated. At the Mediterranean Games in Naples 1963, they finished fourth after a 2–1 defeat in the final for third place against Spain's reserve team.[7]
First appearances in international competitions (1963–1976)
Morocco participated in the final phase of an international competition for the first time at the 1964 Tokyo Olympics. Having qualified under the leadership of manager Mohamed Massoun, the Moroccans were included in a group of three teams due to the withdrawal of North Korea. Morocco lost both their matches, against Hungary (6–0, the team's worst-ever defeat) and Yugoslavia (3–1, despite taking the lead in the second minute via Ali Bouachra).
In 1966, the Moroccan Football Association joined the Confederation of African Football and was able to participate in the competitions organized by the CAF.
In 1968 and 1969, the team was engaged in qualifying for the 1970 World Cup in Mexico. Their debut eliminated Senegal (1–0) and Tunisia after a draw. In the final round of the preliminaries, against Sudan and Nigeria, Morocco obtained five points, finishing ahead of Nigeria. Shortly after, Morocco lost the decisive play-off against Algeria to enter the final stage of the 1970 Africa Cup of Nations.
Morocco thus became the first African national team to qualify for the World Cup after having played in an elimination tournament. The Moroccan team, coached by the Yugoslav Blagoje Vidinić, consisted entirely of players in the Moroccan league, including Driss Bamous and Ahmed Faras.
On 3 June 1970, against West Germany, Morocco opened the scoring with a goal in the 21st minute of the game scored by Houmane Jarir. In the second half, however, the Germans scored twice and won 2–1. The Atlas Lions then played against Peru, conceding three goals in ten minutes to lose 3–0. On 11 June 1970, the eliminated Moroccans drew with Bulgaria 1–1. It was the first point obtained by an African national team at the World Cup.[8]
In 1972 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, the Atlas Lions ousted Algeria, then faced Egypt, beating them 3–0 in the first leg and suffering a 3–2 defeat on the way back. Despite this, they qualified for the final phase of the continental tournament for the first time. In the group stage, they accumulated three 1–1 draws against Congo, Sudan and Zaire and were eliminated in the first round. All three Moroccan goals were scored by Ahmed Faras.
Qualifying for the 1972 Olympics with two wins and two draws, Morocco debuted in Group A with a goalless draw against the United States, then lost 3–0 against hosts West Germany and defeated Malaysia 6–0 with a Faras hat-trick, thereby advancing to the second round. Due to defeats against USSR (3–0), Denmark (3–1) and Poland (5–0), they were eliminated from the tournament; finishing bottom of their group.[9] To date, this result remains the best performance of the Atlas Lions at the Olympic football tournament.
In the 1974 World Cup qualifiers, Morocco successfully passed three qualifying rounds before entering the final round alongside Zambia and Zaire. Losing 4–0 away against Zambia, the Moroccans bounced back in the second game, defeating the same opponent 2–0 at home. They then went to Zaire for their third game but lost 3–0, conceding all three goals in the second half, with Faras leaving the field due to injury. Morocco filed an appeal, trying to get the match to be replayed; it was dismissed by FIFA. In protest, Morocco withdrew from the qualifiers causing the Atlas Lions to miss their final game at home against Zaire which had already qualified for the finals, with FIFA awarding Zaire a 2–0 win on walkover. For the same reason, Morocco also decided not to take part in the 1974 African Cup of Nations qualification.
In 1974, Morocco played only two games, both against Algeria, achieving a 2–0 win and a 0–0 draw. Morocco then resumed its regular FIFA and CAF competitions, qualifying for the 1976 Africa Cup of Nations by eliminating Ghana in the last round, but failed to qualify for the 1976 Olympics, being eliminated by Nigeria.
Between successes and defeats (1976–1986)
Morocco, coached by the Romanian Virgil Mărdărescu and captained by Faras, took the continental throne at 1976 African Cup of Nations, in only the country's second participation in the competition. Ahmed Makrouh scored in the final to equalize at 1–1, which gave Morocco the first, and to date, only cup in its history.[10]
Morocco qualified for the 1986 FIFA World Cup which took place in Mexico, and surprisingly topped a group with Portugal, England and Poland, thanks to two draws against the English and Polish[14] and a 3–1 win against the Portuguese.[15] However, they were narrowly eliminated by West Germany in the first knockout round, thanks to a goal from Lothar Matthäus one minute from the end of regulation time. Morocco became the first African and Arab national team to advance from the first round of the World Cup.[16]
Two years later, the Moroccan team presented itself at the 1988 African Cup of Nations as a host country with high expectations. After winning in the first round, they were eliminated in the semifinals by Cameroon and finished in fourth place after losing the third-place play-off against Algeria 1–1 after extra time, 4–3 after penalties.
Morocco returned to the World Cup after a 20-year absence in 2018.[30] The North Africans were drawn in Group B with World Cup favourites Spain, Portugal, and Iran.[31] In their opening game against Iran, Morocco showed full dedication but lost 1–0 in the final minutes of the match, scored by an own goal.[32] In their second game, Morocco faced Portugal but ended losing 1–0 by a goal scored by Cristiano Ronaldo.[33] In the last match against Spain they took the lead 2–1 but was unable to keep it, and drew 2–2, scored by Khalid Boutaïb and Youssef En-Nesyri.[34]
Morocco entered the 2019 AFCON with high confidence and players claiming them to be the favorite to win.[35][36] However, in spite of three straight group stage wins, Morocco were shockingly knocked out by Benin in the round of sixteen.[37][38]
In December 2021, Morocco started its venture at the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup's Group C, along with Jordan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia. Morocco opened the tournament with a 4–0 win against Palestine,[48] Morocco then managed to overcome a highly defensive Jordan with another 4–0 triumph,[49] They won their final match in a 1–0 victory against Saudi Arabia.[50] they were eliminated in the quarter-final after penalty-shootout against Algeria.[51]
After easily topping their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification group which consisted of Mauritania, Burundi, and Central African Republic, Morocco were one of the favorites to win the 2021 edition of the tournament hosted in Cameroon.[52] Morocco were drawn into group E that included Gabon, Ghana and Comoros. Morocco won its first game against Ghana scored by Sofiane Boufal in the final minutes of the game.[53] In their second game against Comoros, they claimed a 2–0 victory.[54] Their final match against Gabon ended in a draw, making Morocco reach the round of 16 after ending up first in the group.[55] They defeated Malawi 2–1 in the round of 16.[56] They were eliminated in the quarter-final after a 2–1 loss against Egypt.[57]
After qualifying for the 2022 FIFA World Cup by winning the third round of CAF qualifiers,[58] the team was drawn in Group F along with Croatia, Belgium, and Canada. Morocco were not expected to qualify, but after holding previous runners-up Croatia to a 0–0 draw and shocking previous third place Belgium 2–0, a 2–1 win over Canada meant they finished top of the group and advanced to the round of 16 for the first time since 1986.[59][60] In the round of 16, they met Spain, drawing 0–0. In the subsequent penalty shootout, goalkeeper Yassine Bounou saved two penalties, and Achraf Hakimi scored the decisive penalty with a panenka penalty for Morocco to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time.[61] They advanced further to the semi-finals winning against favourite Portugal, 1–0, with a powerful header by Youssef En-Nesyri.[62][63][64] That made Morocco the first African and Arab team to qualify for the semi-finals.[65][66]
However, they lost to France in the semi-final, 2–0 on 14 December at the Al Bayt Stadium in Al Khor, putting an end to Morocco's World Cup run.[67] They played Croatia in the third place play-off on 17 December at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al-Rayyan, a rematch of the earlier group stage meeting.[68] They lost 2–1 to the latter, and ended their World Cup campaign at fourth place.[69] The team would go on to donate their entire World Cup earnings from the tournament to charities within Morocco that help with poverty that affects children and families in the country by the earthquake.[70]
Home stadium
From 2011, the Atlas Lions played most of their matches in the new Marrakesh Stadium, which has a capacity of 45,240 seats. The stadium is considered to bring luck to the Moroccan team; they won several matches there in front of a large audience, notably beating Algeria 4–0 in qualification for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.[71]
Morocco also has other large stadiums built in the 2000s such as the Fez Stadium which has 45,000 seats and which hosts the two clubs of the city: MAS Fez and Wydad de Fès.
Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium, Rabat
Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca
Stade de Marrakech, Marrakech
Stade Ibn Batouta, Tangier
Adrar Stadium, Agadir
Kit suppliers
Morocco's home colours are most red shirts and green shorts and socks, away colours are usually all white or all green.
DEC Player declined the call-up to the squad INJ Did not make it to the current squad due to injury PRE Preliminary squad / standby RET Player retired from internationals SUS Player is suspended WD Player withdrew from the roster for non-injury related reasons
Morocco's national football team has participated in the World Cup six times. Their best performance was in the 2022 tournament where they finished in fourth place, becoming the first African and Arab nation to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.
↑ 12 games and 12 goals have come from the CAF African Nations Championship, which is a competition that only includes local based African players. These games and goals, however, are officially recognized since 2014 by FIFA as full international appearances and goals.[82]
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2 (18 July 2024) [2] 
Morocco 3–3 Iraq 
Hungary 6–0 Morocco 
