Moroccan national soccer team / world championships

Morocco
المملكة المغربية
al-Mamlaka al-Maghribīya

World Cup record goalscorer:	Salaheddine Bassir Abdeljalil Hadda Abderrazak Khairi (2 each)
World Cup record players:	Mustapha Hadji (6)
Rank :	43
Balance sheet
16 World Cup games 2 wins 5 draws 9 losses 14:22 goals
statistics
First World Cup game Morocco 1: 2 BR Germany León ( MEX ); 3rd June 1970
Biggest World Cup win, Morocco 3-0 Scotland Saint-Étienne ( FRA ); June 23, 1998
Biggest World Cup defeats Morocco 0-3 Peru León ( MEX ); June 6, 1970 Morocco 0-3 Brazil Nantes ( FRA ); June 16, 1998
successes
World Championship
Participation in the finals	5 ( first : 1970 )
Best results	Round of 16, 1986
Best placements in the countries that host the FIFA World Cup
(As of June 25, 2018 )

The article contains a detailed description of the Moroccan national soccer team at soccer world championships .

In 1970, Morocco became the first African team to take part in a World Cup after World War II and played the most of all African teams with 111 qualifying games.

overview

year	Host country	Participation until ...	Last opponent	Result	Trainer	Comments and special features
1930	Uruguay	not participated				Not an independent state
1934	Italy	not participated				Not an independent state
1938	France	not participated				Not an independent state
1950	Brazil	not participated				Not an independent state
1954	Switzerland	not participated				Not an independent state
1958	Sweden	not participated				Not a FIFA member
1962	Chile	not qualified				In qualifying in the play-offs Europe vs. Africa failed because of Spain .
1966	England	withdrawn				All 15 African teams withdrew from the qualification as FIFA only allowed the teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania one place in the final round.
1970	Mexico	Preliminary round	Germany , Peru , Bulgaria	14th	Blagoja Vidinić	Eliminated as last group
1974	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification in the 4th round of Zaire failed.
1978	Argentina	not qualified				Tunisia failed in the first round of qualification .
1982	Spain	not qualified				Failed in the qualification in the 4th round to Cameroon .
1986	Mexico	Round of 16	Germany	11.	José Faria
1990	Italy	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round, Tunisia failed again , but they also failed to qualify.
1994	United States	Preliminary round	Belgium , Saudi Arabia , Netherlands	23.	Abdellah Blinda	Eliminated as last group without winning points
1998	France	Preliminary round	Norway , Brazil , Scotland	18th	Henri Michel	After a draw against Norway, a defeat against Brazil and a win against Scotland, eliminated in third place in the group.
2002	South Korea / Japan	not qualified				Failed in the qualification in the 2nd round at Senegal .
2006	Germany	not qualified				In the qualification in the second round, Tunisia failed again.
2010	South Africa	not qualified				In the third round of qualification , Cameroon failed again.
2014	Brazil	not qualified				In the qualification , Morocco could not prevail against the Ivory Coast , Gambia and Tanzania and already had no chance to qualify after five games
2018	Russia	Preliminary round	Iran Portugal Spain	27.	Hervé Renard	After two defeats in the group games, Morocco had no chance to reach the round of 16
2022	Qatar

Statistics (data including 2018: 21 World Championships; percentages are rounded)

• Not participated (not an independent state, not a FIFA member): 6 × (30%; 1930 to 1958)
• Withdrawn: 1 × (5%, 1966)
• Unqualified: 9 × (43%; 1962, 1974, 1978, 1982, 1990, 2002, 2006, 2010 and 2014)
• Athletic qualification: 5 × (24% or 36% of the attempts)
  • Preliminary round: 4 × (19%; 1970, 1994, 1998 and 2018)
  • Round of 16: 1 × (5%; 1986)

World Cup tournaments

1930 to 1958

Morocco was a French protectorate from 1912 to 1956 and was therefore unable to take part in the first five world championships. The Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football was founded in 1955, but was not incorporated into FIFA until 1960. Therefore, Morocco could not take part in the 1958 World Cup. In 1954, Abderrahman Mahjoub , a Morocco-born player, was part of the French World Cup squad, and Just Fontaine , French top scorer at the 1958 World Cup, was born in Morocco.

1962 in Chile

Morocco was allowed to participate in the qualification for the World Cup in Chile for the first time and on October 30, 1960, the Moroccans' first World Cup qualifying match took place in Casablanca and was won 2-1 against Tunisia . Since the second leg in Tunis was lost 2-1 14 days later, a third game had to take place. Since this ended 1: 1 in Palermo after extra time, there was a drawing of lots , through which Morocco moved into the next round. In this Ghana was the opponent and after a 0-0 in Accra the second leg in Casablanca was won 1-0. Morocco was thus the winner of the Africa zone, but still had to play against Spain and lost both games (0: 1 and 2: 3), so that no African representative could take part in the World Cup.

1966 in England

For the World Cup in the "motherland of football" Morocco should compete in the qualifying round against Senegal and Mali . But since the teams from Africa, Asia and Oceania were only allowed one place in the final round, all 15 African teams withdrew.

1970 in Mexico

For the World Cup in Mexico, the Africans were then awarded a direct starting place for the first time. In qualifying , Morocco had to face Senegal in the first round. After a 1-0 home game, the second leg was lost 2-1. Since the away goals rule did not apply, there was a third game that Morocco won 2-0 in Las Palmas . In the second round Tunisia were the opponents and like eight years before there were again three games, only without a winner (two 0-0 and one 2-2 nV). Therefore, the lot had to decide again and again Morocco had luck on its side. In the last round, Nigeria and Sudan were the opponents and with one point ahead of Nigeria Morocco qualified for the World Cup for the first time.

In Mexico, Morocco met Germany in their first World Cup match and took the lead against the favorites with a goal from Houmane Jarir in the 21st minute. This lasted until the second half, but then Uwe Seeler and Gerd Müller were able to turn the game around, so that Morocco lost 2-1. In the second game against Peru , the North Africans were able to keep the 0-0 for a long time, only in the 85th minute Teófilo Cubillas managed the 1-0 for the South Americans, which was followed by two goals. In the last group game against the Bulgarians, who were also eliminated, Morocco won their first World Cup point with a 1-1 draw and said goodbye to the World Cup for 16 years.

1974 in Germany

In qualifying for the World Cup in the Federal Republic of Germany, Morocco reached the second round with a 0-0 and a 2-1 win against Senegal. In the second round Guinea was the opponent and with 1: 1 and 2: 0 the third round was reached. With 1: 1 and 4: 1, the Ivory Coast was eliminated and the fourth round was reached. Here Zaire and Zambia were the opponents. After a 4-0 defeat in Zambia, the second leg was won 2-0, but after a 3-0 defeat in Zaire, Morocco did not play for the second leg, so it was counted for Zaire, making Zaire the first Sub-Saharan team qualified for the World Cup. So far this has been the only participation for Zaire and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

1978 in Argentina

In qualifying for the World Cup in Argentina , Morocco had to face Tunisia again in the first round. Since both games ended 1: 1, the penalty shoot-out that had been introduced in the meantime had to decide, which Tunisia won 4: 2 and subsequently managed to qualify for the World Cup finals.

1982 in Spain

For the World Cup in Spain in 1982, the Africans were awarded two starting places for the first time. In qualifying , the Moroccans beat Senegal 1-0 and 0-0 in the first round . In the second round Zambia was eliminated after 2: 0 and 0: 2 by winning penalties (5: 4) and in the third round Egypt 1: 0 and 0: 0. In the last round, however, the team lost both games against Cameroon (0: 2 and 1: 2) and thus missed the second qualification for a World Cup finals.

1986 in Mexico

In qualifying for the second World Cup in Mexico , Morocco beat Sierra Leone 1-0 and 4-0 in the first round . In the second round Malawi was eliminated 2-0 and 0-0 and in the third round Egypt was eliminated 0-0 and 2-0. In the final round, the team then won against Libya in the home game 3-0, so they could cope with the 0-1 in the second leg and Morocco was back in Mexico.

In Mexico, Morocco met Poland in the first group game and fought 0-0 against the fourth place in the 1982 World Cup. Against England they scored 0-0 in the second group match and with their first World Cup victory, a 3-1 win against Portugal , Morocco surprisingly became the first African team to win the group and stood in the round of 16 against runner-up Germany . Even against the favored Germans, Morocco held the 0-0 for a long time. Only in the 88th minute did Lothar Matthäus score the winning goal with a directly converted free kick. Morocco said goodbye to the World Cup for eight years.

1990 in Italy

To qualify for the second World Cup in Italy , the Moroccans only had to compete in the second round, but only finished last in a group with Tunisia, Zambia and Zaire. Tunisia then failed in the third round to Cameroon, which even advanced to the quarter-finals at the World Cup and beat defending champions Argentina in the opening game .

1994 in the United States

The successes of Morocco and Cameroon at the World Cups in 1986 and 1990 also gave the Africans another starting place for the World Cup in the USA . For the qualification , Morocco was drawn into a group with Tunisia , Ethiopia and Benin . Morocco prevailed undefeated with four wins and two draws and moved into the second round. In this, Zambia and Senegal were the opponents. With three wins and one defeat, Morocco finished first and qualified for the World Cup.

In the first group game against Belgium , Morocco fell behind in the 11th minute and it stayed that way. Morocco also lost the second game against newcomer Saudi Arabia , this time 2-1. And the third group game against the Netherlands was lost 2-1. Morocco was the last to be eliminated with no points.

1998 in France

Morocco had applied to host the World Cup alongside France and Switzerland and after Switzerland withdrew, Morocco lost 7:12 to France in the vote, so the team had to qualify in terms of sport. The qualification was then again successful. The Africans were now entitled to five starting places after the field of participants increased. In the first round Morocco had a walk-through and was able to prevail in the second round against Sierra Leone , Ghana and Gabon , whereby no game was lost and only two goals had to be accepted in the 2-2 in Ghana.

In France, they scored 2-2 in their first game against Norway , but lost 3-0 against defending champions Brazil . The last group game against Scotland was won 3-0, but since Norway surprisingly won 2-1 against Brazil, it was only enough for Morocco to take third place, which has not been enough for the second round since this World Cup. For Morocco, the win against the Scots was the last World Cup game for 20 years.

2002 in Japan and South Korea

In qualifying for the first World Cup in Asia, the Moroccans beat Gambia 1-0 and 2-0 in the first round . In the second round, Senegal, Egypt , Algeria and Namibia were the opponents again. With only one defeat against Senegal and three draws in four wins, the Moroccans finished second on points but with the worse goal difference behind Senegal. Senegal qualified for the World Cup for the first time and shocked defending champions France in the opening game.

2006 in Germany

Morocco had applied again to host the World Cup, but was eliminated in the first round with the fewest votes. The World Cup was then awarded to Germany for the second time and Morocco had to qualify, but could not qualify . After a bye in the first round, the team had to give way to the Tunisians in the second round . Only Guinea , Kenya , Botswana and Malawi could be relegated to the places. The qualification was missed by a 2-2 in the last game against Tunisia, which Tunisia had one point more in the account.

2010 in South Africa

The 2010 World Cup was to take place in Africa and, in addition to South Africa , Morocco had applied again, but lost in the vote at 10:14. Therefore Morocco had to qualify again and failed there too. In the second round, Rwanda , Mauritania and Ethiopia were the opponents. However, Ethiopia was suspended by FIFA in the ongoing qualification and the games that had already been played were taken out of the ranking. With three wins and one defeat in the other games, Morocco prevailed over the tied Rwandans because of the better goal difference. In the third round, Cameroon , Gabon and Togo were the opponents. Morocco could not win a game, only reached three draws in three defeats and was eliminated as bottom of the group.

2014 in Brazil

The qualification for the second World Cup in Brazil was again unsuccessful. In the group stage, Ivory Coast , Tanzania and Gambia were the opponents. With five points behind, they only finished second behind Ivory Coast and missed the playoffs.

2018 in Russia

Morocco began qualifying under Badou Zaki and only had to intervene in the second round, which took place in November 2015. The opponent was Equatorial Guinea . After a 2-0 home win, a 0-1 away defeat could be coped with to reach the third round. In February 2016, Hervé Renard took over the post of national coach. In the third round from October 2016 to November 2017, Ivory Coast, Gabon and Mali were the opponents. The Moroccans started with two goalless draws against Gabon and Ivory Coast, then won 6-0 against Mali. This was followed by another goalless game in Mali and a 3-0 win against Gabon, before the final game against the Ivorians came to the group final, which the Moroccans won 2-0 and thus qualified for the finals.

In the first game in Russia against Iran , Morocco was initially the dominant team, but could not convert this into goals. In the second half both largely neutralized each other. In the fifth minute of stoppage time, Aziz Bouhaddouz faked a cross from the Iranians into their own goal, causing Morocco to lose 1-0. Against European champions Portugal they fell behind with a goal from Cristiano Ronaldo in the fourth minute and it stayed that way until the end of the game. Morocco had no chance of reaching the last sixteen even before the last group game against ex-world champions Spain. They took the lead twice against Spain, but in the end had to be satisfied with a 2-2 draw. After all, they were able to improve one place in the all-time World Cup table.

player

Ranking of the Moroccan World Cup players with the most appearances

01. Mustapha Hadji - 6 appearances in 2 tournaments

02. Rachid Azzouzi , Abdelkrim El Hadrioui , Tahar El Khalej , Noureddine Naybet - 5 appearances in 2 tournaments

Ranking of the Moroccan World Cup players with the most goals

01. Salaheddine Bassir , Abdeljalil Hadda and Abderrazak Khairi - 2 goals each

World Cup captains

• 1970: Driss Bamous (twice substituted)
• 1986: Badou Zaki
• 1994: Mustafa El Haddaoui (1st game) Khalil Azmi (2nd game), Tahar El Khalej (3rd game)
• 1998: Noureddine Naybet
• 2018: Medhi Benatia (1st and 2nd game), Mbark Boussoufa (3rd game)

Players banned from World Championships

• 1986: Labid Khalifa received the second yellow card in the round of 16 , but this had no further effect as Morocco was eliminated.
• 1998: Said Chiba received the second yellow card in the second group game and was suspended for the last group game.

Share of players playing abroad in the World Cup squad

The Moroccans initially nominated no players, then less than half of them played abroad. In 1998 the majority then played abroad.

Year (games)	Number (countries)	Players (stakes)
1970 (3)	0
1986 (4)	5 (3 in France, 2 in Switzerland)	Azzedine Amanallah (2), Abdelkarim Krimau (4), Mustafa Merry (2); Aziz Bouderbala (4), Mustafa El Haddaoui (3)
1994 (3)	8 (1 in Belgium, 1 in Germany, 5 in France, 1 in Portugal)	Nacer Abdellah (2); Rachid Azzouzi (3); Mohammed Chaouch (2), Mustafa El Haddaoui (1), Mustapha Hadji (3), Noureddine Naybet (2), Smahi Triki (3); Hassan Nader (1)
1998 (3)	16 (2 in Germany, 2 in France, 1 in Italy, 1 in the Netherlands, 4 in Portugal, 1 in Switzerland, 4 in Spain, 1 in Tunisia)	Rachid Azzouzi (2), Abderrahim Ouakili (0); Gharib Amzine (3), Youssef Rossi (3); Rachid Neqrouz (0); Ali El Khattabi (2); Youssef Chippo (3), Abdelkrim El Hadrioui (2), Tahar El Khalej (3), Abdelilah Saber (3); Smahi Triki (1); Salaheddine Bassir (3), Saïd Chiba (2), Mustapha Hadji (3), Noureddine Naybet (3); Abdeljalil Hadda (3)
2018 (3)	21 (1 in Belgium, 2 in Germany, 1 in England, 2 in France, 1 in Italy, 3 in the Netherlands, 6 in Spain, 4 in Turkey, 1 in the United Arab Emirates)	Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez (1); Aziz Bouhaddouz (1), Amine Harit (1); Romain Saïss (2); Youssef Aït Bennasser , Hamza Mendyl ; Medhi Benatia (2); Sofyan Amrabat (1), Karim El Ahmadi (3), Hakim Ziyech (3); Nordin Amrabat (2), Bono , Youssef En-Nesyri (1), Fayçal Fajr (2), Achraf Hakimi (3), Munir El Kajoui (3); Younès Belhanda (3), Khalid Boutaïb (2), Manuel da Costa (3), Nabil Dirar (2); Mbark Boussoufa (3)

Games

The Moroccans have played 16 World Cup games so far, two of which have been won, nine have lost and five have ended in a draw. The Moroccans faced the defending champions in 1998, but never faced the hosts and eventual world champions and only met a newcomer (Saudi Arabia) once. The Moroccans only played against Germany and Portugal twice, all other games have been unique so far.

All World Cup games
No.	date	Result	opponent		venue	occasion	comment
1	03rd June 1970	1: 2 (1: 0)	BR Germany	*	Leon ( MEX )	Preliminary round
2	0June 6, 1970	0: 3 (0: 0)	Peru	*	Leon ( MEX )	Preliminary round	First game against Peru
3	June 11, 1970	1: 1 (0: 1)	Bulgaria	*	Leon ( MEX )	Preliminary round
4th	0June 2, 1986	0-0	Poland	*	Monterrey ( MEX )	Group game
5	0June 6, 1986	0-0	England	*	Monterrey ( MEX )	Group game	First game against England
6th	June 11, 1986	3: 1 (2: 0)	Portugal	*	Monterrey ( MEX )	Group game	First game against Portugal
7th	June 17, 1986	0: 1 (0: 0)	BR Germany	*	Monterrey ( MEX )	Round of 16
8th	June 19, 1994	0: 1 (0: 1)	Belgium	*	Orlando ( USA )	Group game	First game against Belgium
9	June 25, 1994	1: 2 (1: 2)	Saudi Arabia	*	East Rutherford ( USA )	Group game
10	June 29, 1994	1: 2 (0: 1)	Netherlands	*	Orlando ( USA )	Group game	First game against the Netherlands
11	June 10, 1998	2: 2 (1: 1)	Norway	*	Montpellier ( FRA )	Group game	First game against Norway
12	June 16, 1998	0: 3 (0: 2)	Brazil	*	Nantes ( FRA )	Group game
13	June 23, 1998	3: 0 (1: 0)	Scotland	*	Saint-Etienne ( FRA )	Group game	First game against Scotland
14th	June 15, 2018	0: 1	Iran	*	Saint Petersburg ( RUS )	Group game	First game counted by FIFA against Iran
15th	20th June 2018	0: 1	Portugal	*	Moscow ( RUS )	Group game
16	June 25, 2018	2: 2	Spain	*	Kaliningrad ( RUS )	Group game

Highest victories and defeats

Morocco's two World Cup victories were also the biggest victories against these teams:

•  Portugal : preliminary round 1986 - 3-1 (first game against Portugal)
•  Scotland : Preliminary round 1998: 3-0 (only game against Scotland)

Morocco suffered its biggest defeats against the following teams at World Cup tournaments:

•  Brazil : preliminary round 1998 - 3-0
•  Netherlands : preliminary round 1994 - 2-1 (only loss to the Netherlands)
•  Peru : Preliminary round 1970 - 3-0 (only game against Peru)
•  Iran : Preliminary round 2018 - 0: 1 (first official game against Iran)
•  Portugal : Preliminary round 2018 - 0-1 (first loss to Portugal)

particularities

• The only team to reach the next round twice in qualifying by drawing lots: in 1962 and 1970 against Tunisia.
• First penalty shoot-out in a World Cup qualification: Morocco - Tunisia on January 9, 1977 in Tunis in qualifying for the 1978 World Cup

Web links

• fifa.com: Morocco

References and footnotes

1. ↑ FIFA.com: Difficult tickets for Africa's favorites
2. ↑ The placements from 5th place onwards were determined by FIFA without any placement games. See: All-time FIFA World Cup Ranking 1930-2010 (PDF; 200 kB)
3. ↑ youtube.com: World Cup 1986 round of 16: Germany-Morocco 1-0 (German TV)
4. ↑ ^{a b c} fifa.com: "FIFA World Cup ™ host announcement decision"
5. ↑ including one in the 2nd Bundesliga
6. ↑ 2nd division
7. ↑ One of them in the 2nd division
8. ↑ FIFA specifies Guadalajara as the venue .
9. ↑ New York is officially given as the venue , but Giants Stadium was in East Rutherford, New Jersey .