Morocco is set to become the second African nation, the secondMENA nation, and the first North African nation to host the World Cup when it was chosen as a co-host for the2030 edition alongside Portugal and Spain.
The Atlas Lions were ranked 10th in theFIFA 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 November 2025, Morocco is ranked as the 11th-best national team in the world.[8]
The Moroccan national team was founded in 1928 and played its first game on 22 December of that year against France's B team, losing 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 asAlgeria andTunisia. 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 other club teams such asNK Lokomotiva Zagreb in January 1950, as well as France A and France B.
On 9 September 1954, anearthquake struck the Algerian region of Orléansville (nowChlef), destroying the city and killing 1,400 people. On 7 October 1954, theFrench Football Association and the Maghreb inhabitants organized a charity match to raise funds for the families of the victims of the earthquake. In the match, held at theParc de Princes in Paris, a team made up of Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians played againstFrance. Led by starLarbi Benbarek, the Maghreb selection managed to win 3–2, a month before theToussaint Rouge attacks by theAlgerian National Liberation Front which marked the beginning of theAlgerian War.
On 19 October 1957, at thesecond edition of the Arab Games in Lebanon, Morocco made its debut as an independent country against Iraq, at theCamille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, and drew 3–3. At the tournament, Morocco recorded their first-ever win, defeatingLibya 5–1, then beatTunisia 3–1 to reach the semi-finals. After a 1–1 draw withSyria, 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 againstLebanon and finished fourth overall.[9]
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, thequalifying 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 Royal Moroccan Football Federation joined FIFA.
In 1960, Morocco competed inWorld 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 by the same score. A play-off held inPalermo, Italy finished in a draw, so a coin toss was used to determine who progressed. Morocco won the toss, and beat Ghana 1–0 on aggregate to reach theinter-continental play-offs. Drawn againstSpain, Morocco lost 4–2 on aggregate and thus failed to qualify.
The following year, Morocco held thePan-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.[10] They also claimed their first two wins against a European team, beatingEast Germany 2–1 and 2–0.
In 1963, the Moroccan team came close toqualifying for the African Cup of Nations; in the decisive play-off against Tunisia, they were defeated 4–1 inTunis and won 4–2 at home, therefore being eliminated. At the1963 Mediterranean Games inNaples, they finished fourth after a 2–1 defeat in the final for third place against Spain's reserve team.[11]
First appearances in international competitions (1963–1976)
Morocco participated in the final phase of an international competition for the first time at the1964 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 ofNorth Korea. Morocco lost both their matches, againstHungary (6–0, the team's worst-ever defeat) and Yugoslavia (3–1, despite taking the lead in the second minute viaAli Bouachra).
In 1966, the Moroccan Football Association joined theConfederation of African Football, and the team participated inqualifying for the1970 World Cup in Mexico. Their debut eliminatedSenegal (1–0) and Tunisia after a draw. In the final round of the preliminaries, againstSudan andNigeria, Morocco obtained five points, finishing ahead of Nigeria. Shortly after, Morocco lost the decisive play-off against Algeria to enter the final stage of the1970 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 YugoslavBlagoje Vidinić, consisted entirely of players in the Moroccan league, includingDriss Bamous andAhmed Faras.
On 3 June 1970, againstWest Germany, Morocco opened the scoring with a goal in the 21st minute of the game scored byHoumane Jarir. In the second half, however, the Germans scored twice and won 2–1. The Atlas Lions then played againstPeru, conceding three goals in ten minutes to lose 3–0. On 11 June 1970, the eliminated Moroccans drew withBulgaria 1–1. It was the first point obtained by an African national team at the World Cup.[12]
In1972 Africa Cup of Nations qualification, the Atlas Lions ousted Algeria, then faced Egypt, defeating them 3–0 in the first leg and suffering a 3–2 defeat on the way back. However, the aggregate win meant they qualified for the final phase of the continental tournament for the first time. In the group stage, they accumulated three 1–1 draws againstCongo, Sudan andZaire and were eliminated in the first round. All three Moroccan goals were scored by Ahmed Faras.
Qualifying for the1972 Olympics in Munich with two wins and two draws, Morocco debuted in Group A with a goalless draw against theUnited States, then lost 3–0 against hosts West Germany and defeatedMalaysia 6–0 with a Faras hat-trick, thereby advancing to the second round. Due to defeats againstUSSR (3–0),Denmark (3–1) andPoland (5–0), they were eliminated from the tournament; finishing bottom of their group.[13]
In the1974 World Cup qualifiers, Morocco successfully passed three qualifying rounds before entering the final stage alongsideZambia andZaire. 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 the1974 African Cup of Nations qualification. As a result, in 1974, Morocco played only two games, both against Algeria, achieving a 2–0 win and a 0–0 draw. Morocco then resumed playing in FIFA and CAF competitions, qualifying for the1976 Africa Cup of Nations by eliminating Ghana in the last round, but failed to qualify for the1976 Olympics, being eliminated by Nigeria.
Morocco, coached by the RomanianVirgil Mărdărescu and captained by Faras, took the continental throne at1976 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.[14]
After failing to qualify for the 1974 FIFA World Cup, they also missed the1978 and1982 tournaments. At the1978 Africa Cup of Nations, they were eliminated in the first round, while in1980 they finished in third place, beating Egypt 2–0.[15] They then won the1983 Mediterranean Games, played at home, after a 3–0 win in the final againstTurkey B.[16]
Morocco qualified for the1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, and topped a group consistingPortugal,England andPoland, thanks to two draws against the English and Polish[18] and a 3–1 win against the Portuguese.[19] However, they were narrowly eliminated byWest Germany in the first knockout round, thanks to a goal fromLothar 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.[20]
Two years later, the Moroccan team presented itself at the1988 African Cup of Nations as a host country with high expectations. After winning in the first round, they were eliminated in the semi-finals byCameroon and finished in fourth place after losing the third-place play-off againstAlgeria 1–1 after extra time, 4–3 after penalties.
Morocco returned to the World Cup after a 20-year absence in2018.[34] The North Africans were drawn inGroup B with World Cup favouritesSpain,Portugal, andIran.[35] 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.[36] In their second game, Morocco faced Portugal but ended losing 1–0 by a goal scored byCristiano Ronaldo and also got eliminated from the tournament.[37] In the last match against Spain they took a 2–1 lead, with goals scored byKhalid Boutaïb andYoussef En-Nesyri, but the match eventually ended 2–2.[38]
Morocco entered the2019 AFCON with high confidence and players claiming them to be the favourite to win.[39][40] However, in spite of three straight group stage wins, Morocco were shockingly knocked out byBenin in the round of sixteen.[41][42]
In December 2021, Morocco started its venture at the2021 FIFA Arab Cup'sGroup C, along withJordan,Palestine andSaudi Arabia. Morocco opened the tournament with a 4–0 win against Palestine,[52] and then managed to overcome a highly defensive Jordan with another 4–0 triumph,[53] before winning their final match in a 1–0 victory against Saudi Arabia.[54] They were eliminated in the quarter-finals after a penalty-shootout againstAlgeria.[55]
After easily topping their2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification group which consisted of Mauritania, Burundi, and Central African Republic, Morocco entered the tournament in Cameroon.[56] Morocco were drawn into group E alongsideGabon,Ghana andComoros, and won their first game against Ghana scored bySofiane Boufal in the final minutes of the game.[57] In their second game against Comoros, they claimed a 2–0 victory.[58] Their final match against Gabon ended in a draw, making Morocco reach the round of 16 after ending up first in the group.[59] They defeatedMalawi 2–1 in the round of 16,[60] before being eliminated in the quarter-finals after a 2–1 loss againstEgypt.[61]
After qualifying for the2022 FIFA World Cup by winning thethird round of CAF qualifiers,[62] the team was drawn inGroup F along withCroatia,Belgium, andCanada. After holdingprevious runners-up Croatia to a 0–0 draw and defeating 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.[63][64] In the round of 16, they metSpain, drawing 0–0. In the subsequent penalty shootout, goalkeeperYassine Bounou saved two penalties, andAchraf Hakimi scored the decisive penalty with apanenka penalty for Morocco to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time.[65] They advanced further to the semi-finals winning against favourite Portugal, 1–0, with a powerful header by Youssef En-Nesyri.[66][67][68] Morocco therefore became the first African and Arab team to qualify for the semi-finals.[69][70]
However, they lost toFrance in the semi-final, 2–0 on 14 December at theAl Bayt Stadium inAl Khor, putting an end to Morocco's World Cup run.[71] They played Croatia in the third place play-off on 17 December at theKhalifa International Stadium inAl-Rayyan, a rematch of the earlier group stage meeting.[72] They lost 2–1 to the latter, and ended their World Cup campaign at fourth place.[73] 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.[74]
In October 2025, Morocco broke theworld record for the longest winning streak in international football, surpassing Spain’s previous mark of 15 consecutive victories set between June 2008 and June 2009. With a 1–0 win overCongo inRabat, Morocco extended their unbeaten run to 16 straight wins across all competitions, includingWorld Cup qualifiers and friendlies. The streak, which began in June 2024, remains active and had reached 18 consecutive victories as of November 2025. During this period, the team scored 55 goals and conceded only four.[75][76]
From 2011, the Atlas Lions played most of their matches in the newMarrakesh 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, including a 4–0 victory againstAlgeria in qualification for the2012 Africa Cup of Nations.[77]
Morocco also has other large stadiums built in the 2000s such as theFez Stadium which has 45,000 seats and which hosts the two clubs of the city:MAS Fez andWydad de Fès.
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 theWorld Cup six times. Their best performance was in the2022 tournament where they finished in fourth place, becoming the first African and Arab nation to reach the semi-finals of the tournament.
.jpg)
