Morocco national football team

Morocco

Nickname(s)	أُسُودالأطلس (Lions of the Atlas)
Association	Royal Moroccan Football Federation
Sub-confederation	UNAF (North Africa)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Eric Gerets
Captain	Houssine Kharja
Most caps	Noureddine Naybet (115)
Top scorer	Ahmed Faras (42)[citation needed]
Home stadium	Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium
FIFA code	MAR
FIFA ranking	60
Highest FIFA ranking	10 (April 1998)
Lowest FIFA ranking	95 (September 2010)
Elo ranking	74
Highest Elo ranking	17 (December 1998)
Lowest Elo ranking	70 (September 2010)
Home colours Away colours
First international
Morocco 3–3 Iraq  (Lebanon; 19 October 1957)
Biggest win
Morocco 13–1 Saudi Arabia  (Morocco; 6 September 1961)
Biggest defeat
Hungary 6–0 Morocco (Japan; 11 October 1964)
World Cup
Appearances	4 (First in 1970)
Best result	Round of 16, 1986
Africa Cup of Nations
Appearances	14 (First in 1972)
Best result	Winners; 1976

The Morocco national football team (Arabic: منتخب المغرب لكرة القدم‎), nicknamed أسود الأطلس (Lions of the Atlas), is the national team of Morocco and is managed by Eric Gerets. Winners of the African Nations Cup in 1976, they were the first African team to win a group at the World Cup, which they did in 1986, finishing ahead of Portugal, Poland, and England. They were also the first African team to make it to second round barely losing to eventual runner-ups West Germany 1–0 in 1986. They also came within two minutes of moving out of the group stage of the 1998 World Cup, Kjetil Rekdal's late winning goal for Norway against Brazil eliminating them.

Home stadium

The Moroccan National team traditionally used the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium (Rabat) and the Stade Mohamed V (Casablanca) as their main stadiums, but recently started using the new Marrakech stadium, as the last four home games were held there. This is one of the reasons Morocco sometimes win home games.

World Cup record

Morocco's national football team participated four times in the FIFA World Cup. Their best performance was the 1986 edition when they advanced to the second round, being the first African nation to do so. In 1998, the team narrowly missed repeating the same achievement.

FIFA World Cup record
Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
1930	Did Not Enter
1934
1938
1950
1954
1958
1962	Did Not Qualify
1966	Withdrew
1970	Group Stage	14th	3	0	1	2	2	6
1974	Did Not Qualify
1978
1982
1986	Round of 16	11th	4	1	2	1	3	2
1990	Did Not Qualify
1994	Group Stage	23rd	3	0	0	3	2	5
1998	Group Stage	18th	3	1	1	1	5	5
2002	Did Not Qualify
2006
2010
2014	To Be Determined
2018
2022
Total	Round of 16	4/19	13	2	4	7	12	18

African Cup of Nations Record

Morocco team before the match against Niger at 2011-2012

Results since 2010,2011 and 2012

Date	Venue	Home Team	Result	Away Team	Scorers	Competition
11 August 2010	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat	Morocco	2–1	Equatorial Guinea	Hadji  64' 77'	Friendly
3 September 2010	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat	Morocco	0–0	Central African Republic		2012 ACN Q
8 October 2010	Dar es Salaam	Tanzania	0–1	Morocco	Hamdaoui  43'	2012 ACN Q
17 November 2010	Windsor Park, Belfast	Northern Ireland	1–1	Morocco	Chamakh  56'	Friendly
9 February 2011	Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca	Morocco	3–0	Niger	Boussoufa  16' 82' Bakkali  90'	Friendly
27 March 2011	Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba	Algeria	1–0	Morocco		2012 ACN Q
6 June 2011	Marrakech Stadium	Morocco	4–0	Algeria	Benatia  25' Chamakh  38' Hadji  50' Assaidi  68'	2012 ACN Q
10 August 2011	Stade Leopold Senghor, Dakar	Senegal	0–2	Morocco	Kharja  10' Arabi  25'	Friendly
4 September 2011	Barthélémy Boganda Stadium	Central African Republic	0–0	Morocco		2012 ACN Q
9 October 2011	Marrakech Stadium	Morocco	3–1	Tanzania	Chamakh  20' Taarabt  69' Boussoufa  90'	2012 ACN Q
11 November 2011	Marrakech Stadium	Morocco	0–1	Uganda		Friendly
13 November 2011	Marrakech Stadium	Morocco	1–1 (PSO: 2–4)	Cameroon	Amrabt  89'	Friendly
23 January 2012	Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville	Tunisia	2–1	Morocco	Kharja  86'	2012 ACN
27 January 2012	Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville	Morocco	2–3	Gabon	Kharja  25' 89 (P)'	2012 ACN
31 January 2012	Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville	Morocco	1–0	Niger	Belhanda  79'	2012 ACN
29 February 2012	Stade de Marrakech, Marrakech	Morocco	2–0	Burkina Faso	Boussoufa  19' Arabi  64'	Friendly
25 May 2012	Stade de Marrakech, Marrakech	Morocco	0-1	Senegal		Friendly
1 June 2012		Gambia	vs.	Morocco		2014 FIFAWC Q
8 June 2012		Morocco	vs.	Côte d'Ivoire		2014 FIFAWC Q

Squad

Current squad

The following players are on the Moroccan national team as of (May 26, 2012)

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club GK Nadir Lamyaghri (1976-02-13) February 13, 1976 (age 36) 43 0 Wydad Casablanca GK Aziz El Qinani (1978-08-30) August 30, 1978 (age 33) 0 0 Moghreb Tétouan GK Issam Badda (1983-05-10) May 10, 1983 (age 29) 0 0 FUS Rabat DF Michaël Chrétien Basser (1984-07-10) July 10, 1984 (age 27) 32 0 Bursaspor DF Zakaria Bergdich (1989-01-07) January 7, 1989 (age 23) 2 0 Lens DF Mehdi Benatia (1987-04-17) April 17, 1987 (age 25) 17 1 Udinese DF Abdelfettah Boukhriss (1986-10-22) October 22, 1986 (age 25) 3 0 FUS Rabat DF Mustapha Mrani (1978-03-02) March 2, 1978 (age 34) 3 0 MAS Fès DF Samir Zekroumi (1985-03-30) March 30, 1985 (age 27) 1 0 MAS Fès DF Rachid Soulaimani (1982-11-21) November 21, 1982 (age 29) 4 0 Raja Casablanca DF Issam El Adoua (1986-09-12) September 12, 1986 (age 25) 1 0 Vitoria DF Ayoub El Khaliqi (1986-09-12) September 12, 1986 (age 25) 1 0 Wydad Casablanca DF Ismail Belmaalem (1988-02-01) February 1, 1988 (age 24) 0 0 Raja Casablanca MF Adil Hermach (1986-06-27) June 27, 1986 (age 25) 11 0 Al Hilal Ryad MF Karim El Ahmadi (1985-01-27) January 27, 1985 (age 27) 11 1 Feyenoord MF Younès Belhanda (1990-02-25) February 25, 1990 (age 22) 12 1 Montpellier MF Mbark Boussoufa (1984-08-15) August 15, 1984 (age 27) 28 5 Anzhi Makhachkala MF Abdelaziz Barrada (1989-06-19) June 19, 1989 (age 22) 2 0 Getafe MF Chemseddine Chtibi (1982-12-14) December 14, 1982 (age 29) 1 0 MAS Fès MF Ismail Aissati (1988-08-16) August 16, 1988 (age 23) 2 0 Ajax MF Salaheddine Saidi (1987-05-03) May 3, 1987 (age 25) 1 0 FAR Rabat MF Oussama Assaidi (1988-08-15) August 15, 1988 (age 23) 6 1 Heerenveen MF Houssine Kharja (1982-11-09) November 9, 1982 (age 29) 69 9 Fiorentina FW Youssef El-Arabi (1987-02-03) February 3, 1987 (age 25) 10 2 Al Hilal Ryad FW Yassine Salhi (1987-11-23) November 23, 1987 (age 24) 1 0 Raja Casablanca FW Marouane Chamakh (1984-01-10) January 10, 1984 (age 28) 61 26 Arsenal

FIFA World Cup 2010 Qualification

• 1st Group Stage

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Morocco	4	3	0	1	11	5	+6	9
Rwanda	4	3	0	1	7	3	+4	9
Mauritania	4	0	0	4	2	12	−10	0
Ethiopia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Ethiopia played four matches in this group, before FIFA announced the immediate suspension of the Ethiopian Football Federation (EFF) on 29 July 2008.^[1] On 12 September 2008, FIFA excluded the EFF from the 2010 World Cup qualifiers and the results of their matches were cancelled.^[2] While it was not clear if they were also explicitly excluded from the 2010 African Cup of Nations, their failure to complete the remaining fixtures effectively eliminated them from the tournament.

• Final Group Stage - Group A

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Cameroon	6	4	1	1	9	2	+7	13
Gabon	6	3	0	3	9	7	+2	9
Togo	6	2	2	2	3	7	−4	8
Morocco	6	0	3	3	3	8	−5	3

Morocco finished bottom of their group in the Final Stage of World Cup qualifying, therefore failing to qualify for the tournament.

African Cup of Nations 2012 Qualification

Morocco finished 1st in their group and qualified for African Cup of Nations automatically.

• Group D

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Morocco	6	3	2	1	8	2	+6	11
Central African Republic	6	2	2	2	5	5	0	8
Algeria	6	2	2	2	5	8	−3	8
Tanzania	6	1	2	3	6	9	−3	5

4 September 2010 21:00 UTC±0	Morocco	0–0	Central African Republic	Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat Referee: Koman Coulibaly (Mali)
		Report

9 October 2010 16:00 UTC+3	Tanzania	0–1 (0–1)	Morocco	Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, Dar-es-Salaam Referee: Seechurn Rajindraparsad (Mauritius)
		Report	El Hamdaoui  43'

27 March 2011 20:30 UTC+1	Algeria	1–0 (1–0)	Morocco	Stade 19 Mai 1956, Annaba Referee: Seechurn Rajindraparsad (Mauritius)
	Yebda  5' (pen.)

4 June 2011 21:00 UTC+1	Morocco	4–0 (2–0)	Algeria	Stade de Marrakech, Marrakech
	Benatia  25' Chamakh  38' Hadji  60' Assaidi  68'

4 September 2011 21:00 UTC±0	Central African Republic	0–0	Morocco	Central African Republic
		Report

9 October 2011 16:00 UTC+3	Morocco	3–1 (1–1)	Tanzania	Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, Dar-es-Salaam Referee: Seechurn Rajindraparsad (Mauritius)
	Chamakh  20', Taarabt  63', Boussoufa  90'	Report	Sadala  40'

African Cup of Nations 2012

Morocco finished 3rd in their group and were knocked out of the 28th edition of the African Cup of Nations at the first hurdle.

• Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Gabon	3	3	0	0	6	2	+4	9
Tunisia	3	2	0	1	4	2	+2	6
Morocco	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
Niger	3	0	0	3	1	5	−4	0

23 January 2012 20:00	Morocco	1 – 2	Tunisia	Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville Attendance: 18,000[3] Referee: Daniel Bennett (South Africa)
	Kharja  86'	Report	Korbi  34' Msakni  75'

27 January 2012 20:00	Gabon	3 – 2	Morocco	Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville Referee: Bakary Gassama (Gambia)
	Aubameyang  77' Cousin  80' Mbanangoyé  90+7'		Kharja  25', 90+1' (pen.)

31 January 2012 19:00	Niger	0 – 1	Morocco	Stade d'Angondjé, Libreville Attendance: 4,000[3] Referee: Hamada Nampiandraza (Madagascar)
		Report	Belhanda  79'

FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualification

• 2nd Stage - Group C

Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts
Morocco	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Côte d'Ivoire	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Tanzania	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Gambia	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

1 June 2012 12:00	Gambia	–	Morocco

8 June 2012 12:00	Morocco	–	Côte d'Ivoire

22 March 2013 12:00	Tanzania	–	Morocco

7 June 2013 12:00	Morocco	–	Tanzania

14 June 2013 12:00	Morocco	–	Gambia

6 September 2013 12:00	Côte d'Ivoire	–	Morocco

Coaches

Source:^[4]

References

External links

• Official website of Morocco's FA
• RSSSF archive of results

v t e International association football FIFA · World Cup · Confederations Cup · U-20 World Cup · U-17 World Cup · Olympics · Minor tournaments · World Rankings · Player of the Year · FIFA Ballon d'Or · Teams · Debuts · Competitions · Federations · Codes Asia AFC – Asian Cup Africa CAF – Africa Cup of Nations North America, Central America and the Caribbean CONCACAF – Gold Cup South America CONMEBOL – Copa América Oceania OFC – Nations Cup Europe UEFA – European Championship Non-FIFA NF-Board – Viva World Cup IGA Island Games Games All-Africa Games Asian Games CARIFTA Games East Asian Games Francophonie Games IOIG Lusophony Games Mediterranean Games Pan American Games Pan Arab Games Pacific Games South Asian Games Southeast Asian Games See also International women's football.