From AFCON to 2026 World Cup: how Morocco became a football powerhouse | World Cup 2026 News

In a few decades, Morocco went from regularly being knocked out in the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and failing to qualify for several consecutive World Cups to ranking in the top 10 of the FIFA men’s rankings, reaching the semi-finals at the 2022 Qatar World Cup and being considered credible contenders for the sport’s biggest tournament this summer.

Even more impressive is that the Atlas Lions’ success is not limited to the senior national team, but spreads across every age group and category.

Morocco are currently the 2025 AFCON champions, albeit after Senegal were stripped of the title. They were also 2025 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (WAFCON) finalists, 2025 FIFA Arab Cup champions, 2025 African Nations Championship (CHAN) champions, 2025 FIFA U-20 FIFA World Cup champions, 2025 U-17 AFCON champions, 2024 Men’s Olympic bronze medalists and Futsal AFCON champions of 2024.

There is no magic formula behind success. A source close to the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, explained that the country’s success rests on three pillars: good governance, financial investments and skilled personnel.

“King Mohammed VI set out this strategy at the Skhirat Sports Conference in 2008, which marked the beginning of a long-term national project for the development of football,” he said.

“The first pillar was a governance reform, including the creation of a national financial control department, which helped clean up and professionalize the financial structure of Moroccan football.

“This was followed by huge investments in infrastructure at every level of the game. For example, through collaboration with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and the Moroccan government, we have built thousands of local football pitches, called ‘proximity pitches’. These are open and accessible to all and serve mass participation across the country.”

In addition to that public infrastructure, Morocco built the Mohammed VI complex and academy in Maamoura, just outside Rabat. The complex, packed with perfectly manicured pitches, the latest physiotherapy equipment and its own hotel, has been compared to the best technical centers in world football, including France’s Clairefontaine.

The academy has produced top talent, including several starters for the senior squad, including Olympique de Marseille’s Nayef Aguerd, Girona’s Azzedine Ounahi and Al-Ittihad’s Youssef En-Nesyri.

Another major piece of the puzzle in the build-up of the North African superpower came when African federations lobbied FIFA to reform national participation rules, opening the door to players from their European-born diaspora. Thanks to those rule changes, Morocco secured the services of players such as Hakim Ziyech, Nordin Amrabat and Brahim Diaz.

The newest addition to the Atlas Lions is Ayyoub Bouaddi. The 18-year-old Lille midfielder is one of the best young players in France, and French media reported that even Zinedine Zidane – widely expected to take charge of the French national team after Didier Deschamps resigned after the World Cup – has contacted Bouaddi’s entourage to inquire about keeping him for Les Bleus.

Still, Bouaddi was steadfast in his plans to represent Morocco.

“I don’t think we have ever had a player so young and with so much promise for Morocco,” Tom Yousef Drissi, a passionate supporter of the Atlas Lions, told Al Jazeera.

“It feels different, more seismic, more unprecedented. We’ve had good European-born young players in the team before, but France are the main force in world football at the moment and their midfield is ageing.”

“[Bouaddi] probably had a clear path to that team. He was captain of their U-21s just two months ago. I think this, together with Samir El Mourabet, Neil El Aynaoui and Bilal El Khannous, prepares us very well for the coming decade.”

AFCON dropout

With the trajectory of Moroccan football clearly pointing upwards, it appears that the only thing that could derail Morocco from the World Cup is the instability caused by the 2025 AFCON final. In second-half stoppage time, with the match at 0-0 heading into extra time, referee Jean-Jacques Ndala awarded a dubious penalty in Morocco’s favour.

What followed shook the entire football world. The Senegalese team walked off the field and into their dressing room, while in the stands behind the Moroccan goal, Senegalese fans clashed with stewards.

Inexplicably, the match was not cancelled. After a delay of about 15 minutes, the Senegalese team returned to the field and Brahim Diaz took the penalty and attempted a panenka. Edouard Mendy did not leave his line and calmly collected the shot, after which Senegal won in extra time.

At the press conference after the match in Rabat, the first question to coach Walid Regragui – who had taken Morocco to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup – was: “Do you want to resign tonight or tomorrow morning?”

Regragui brushed it aside, but resigned a few weeks later. It was common knowledge throughout the tournament that if Morocco did not lift the trophy, Regragui would likely be replaced by Tarik Sektioui or Mohamed Ouahbi. The Royal Moroccan Football Federation opted for the latter after he led the Moroccan youth team to win the U-20 World Cup in October with an attacking approach.

“There is an interesting parallel with Walid Regragui in 2022. … He also took over the national team two or three months before the World Cup,” Said Abadi, a Moroccan journalist and author of The History of African Football, told Al Jazeera.

“Ouahbi’s first matches were friendly matches in March and it showed that he had already started to implement his ideas and playing style. But you notice that many things are not yet completely settled. Ouahbi will still be looking for the right balance between the experienced players from the Regragui era and the new generation. A major overhaul is not possible in this time frame.”

While many people hold Ouahbi in high regard, the question remains whether Regragui’s pragmatic style would have been better suited to the demands of a World Cup.

In Qatar, Morocco remained unbeaten in every match in which they had less than 50 percent possession, and the only match they lost was against France, when they had the lion’s share of the ball. Whether Ouahbi’s more adventurous approach can deliver the same resilience in the knockout rounds remains to be seen.

The world may rightly have high expectations for Morocco at the 2026 World Cup, but those who follow this team closely understand that the tournament is just another milestone on a longer road that leads to a World Cup played on home soil in four years’ time.

“Even the 2030 World Cup is not an end goal,” the Moroccan federation source said.

“It is a milestone that will help accelerate the country’s broader development in all its key dimensions: infrastructure, human capital, transport, mobility and international attractiveness.”