Morocco national football team

 Morocco

Nickname(s)	اسودالأطلس (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	56
Highest FIFA ranking	10 (April 1998)
Lowest FIFA ranking	95 (September 2010)
Elo ranking	59
Highest Elo ranking	17 (December 1998)
Lowest Elo ranking	70 (September 2010)
Home colours Away colours Third 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	13 (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.

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 vs Germany in the 1986 FIFA World Cup

1957 – Did not enter 1959 – Did not enter 1962 – Withdrew 1963 – Did not qualify 1965 – Did not enter 1968 – Did not enter 1970 – Did not qualify 1972 – Round 1 1974 – Did not enter 1976 – Champions 1978 – Round 1 1980 – Third place 1982 – Did not qualify 1984 – Did not qualify 1986 – Fourth place

1988 – Fourth place 1990 – Did not qualify 1992 – Round 1 1994 – Did not qualify 1996 – Did not qualify 1998 – Quarterfinals 2000 – Round 1 2002 – Round 1 2004 – Second place 2006 – Round 1 2008 – Round 1 2010 – Did not qualify 2012 – Qualified 2013 – To be determined 2015 – Qualified (Host)

Results since 2010

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	Dakar	Senegal	0–2	Morocco	Kharja  10' Arabi  25'	Friendly
4 September 2011		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

Squad

Current squad

The following players participated in the LG Cup held on 11-13 November 2011.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Ahmed Mohamadina March 10, 1984 (1984-03-10) (age 27) 2 0 Olympique Khouribga 12 GK Mohamed Amsif February 7, 1989 (1989-02-07) (age 22) 1 0 FC Augsburg 22 GK Amine Lecomte April 26, 1990 (1990-04-26) (age 21) 0 0 Lekhwiya DF Ahmed Chagou November 27, 1987 (1987-11-27) (age 23) 0 0 Difaa El Jadida DF Abdelfettah Boukhriss October 22, 1986 (1986-10-22) (age 25) 2 0 FUS Rabat 23 DF Mustapha Lemrani March 2, 1978 (1978-03-02) (age 33) 1 0 MAS Fez 2 DF Michaël Chrétien Basser July 10, 1984 (1984-07-10) (age 27) 30 0 Bursaspor 16 DF Jamal Alioui June 2, 1982 (1982-06-02) (age 29) 14 0 Al-Kharitiyath 21 DF Rachid Soulaimani November 21, 1982 (1982-11-21) (age 29) 2 0 Raja Casablanca DF Oussama Gharib January 15, 1987 (1987-01-15) (age 24) 1 0 FUS Rabat 13 MF Houssine Kharja (Captain) November 9, 1982 (1982-11-09) (age 29) 66 6 Fiorentina 7 MF Adel Taarabt May 24, 1989 (1989-05-24) (age 22) 12 4 Queens Park Rangers 14 MF Mbark Boussoufa August 15, 1984 (1984-08-15) (age 27) 26 6 Anzhi Makhachkala 10 MF Younès Belhanda February 25, 1990 (1990-02-25) (age 21) 8 0 Montpellier MF Nabil Dirar February 25, 1986 (1986-02-25) (age 25) 7 0 Club Brugge 8 MF Karim El Ahmadi January 27, 1985 (1985-01-27) (age 26) 10 1 Feyenoord 6 MF Adil Hermach June 27, 1986 (1986-06-27) (age 25) 9 0 Al Hilal Ryad 19 MF Mehdi Carcela-Gonzalez July 1, 1989 (1989-07-01) (age 22) 3 0 Anzhi Makhachkala MF Nordin Amrabat March 31, 1987 (1987-03-31) (age 24) 2 1 Kayserispor 11 MF Oussama Assaidi August 15, 1988 (1988-08-15) (age 23) 6 1 Heerenveen 20 FW Youssouf Hadji February 25, 1980 (1980-02-25) (age 31) 63 17 Rennes 9 FW Youssef El-Arabi February 3, 1987 (1987-02-03) (age 24) 7 1 Al Hilal Ryad

Recent call-ups

The following players have been called up in the last 12 months.

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club 1 GK Nadir Lamyaghri February 13, 1976 (1976-02-13) (age 35) 38 0 Wydad Casablanca 22 GK Issam Badda May 10, 1983 (1983-05-10) (age 28) 0 0 FUS Rabat 5 DF Mehdi Benatia April 17, 1987 (1987-04-17) (age 24) 14 1 Udinese 4 DF Abdelhamid El Kaoutari March 17, 1990 (1990-03-17) (age 21) 5 0 Montpellier 22 DF Ahmed Kantari June 28, 1985 (1985-06-28) (age 26) 4 0 Brest DF Mohamed Oulhaj January 6, 1988 (1988-01-06) (age 23) 2 0 Raja Casablanca 19 DF Ayoub El Khaliqi December 12, 1986 (1986-12-12) (age 24) 0 0 Wydad Casablanca DF Hicham Mahdoufi August 5, 1983 (1983-08-05) (age 28) 14 1 Raja Casablanca 18 MF Mohammed Berrabeh October 2, 1985 (1985-10-02) (age 26) 5 0 Wydad Casablanca 15 MF Mohammed Chihani September 13, 1982 (1982-09-13) (age 29) 4 0 Al-Arabi MF Said Fettah January 15, 1986 (1986-01-15) (age 25) 1 0 Wydad Casablanca 23 MF Ismaïl Aissati August 16, 1988 (1988-08-16) (age 23) 1 0 Ajax MF Mohamed Amine El Bakkali May 18, 1984 (1984-05-18) (age 27) 1 1 FUS Rabat 17 FW Marouane Chamakh January 10, 1984 (1984-01-10) (age 27) 59 17 Arsenal 10 FW Mounir El Hamdaoui July 14, 1984 (1984-07-14) (age 27) 7 2 Ajax

African nations cup 2012 Qualification

Morocco finished 1st in their group and qualified for African nations cup 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

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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'

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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.)

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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'

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4 September 2011	Central African Republic	0–0	Morocco	Barthelemy Boganda Stadium, Bangui

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9 October 2011 19:30 UTC+0	Morocco	3–1 (1–1)	Tanzania	Stade de Marrakech, Marrakech
	Chamakh  20' Taarabt  69' Boussoufa  90'		Sadala  41'

Coaches

• Larbi Ben Barek, Abdelkader Lohkmiri, Mohamed Kadmiri (1957–1961)
• Mohamed Massoun, Kader Firoud (1961–1964)
• Mohamed Massoun, Abderrahmane Belmahjoub (1964–1967)
• Cluzeau, Abdellah Settati (1968–1970)
• Blagoja Vidinić (1970–1971)
• Abderrahmane Belmahjoub (1971)
• José Barinaga (1972)
• Abdallah El-Emmani (1972–1976)
• Gheorghe Mărdărescu (1976–1977) (Winner of African Nations Cup)
• Abdallah Ben Barek "Malaga" (1977)
• Cluzeau (1979)
• Just Fontaine (1979–1981)
• Yabram Hamidouch (1981)
• José Faria "Mehdi" (1983–1988)
• Jaime Valente (1988–1989)
• Antonio Valentín "Angelino Angelillo" (1989–1990)
• Werner Olk (1990–1992)
• Abdelkhalek Louzani (1992)
• Abdellah Ajri Blinda (1993–1994)
• Mohammed Lamari (1994)
• Gilson Nunez (1995)
• Henri Michel (1995–2000)
• Henryk Kasperczak (2000)
• Mustapha Madih (2001)
• Humberto Coelho (2002)
• Badou Zaki (2002–2005)
• Philippe Troussier (2005)
• Mohamed Fakhir (2005–2007)
• Henri Michel (2007–2008)
• Fathi Jamal (2008)
• Roger Lemerre (2008–2009)
• Hassan Moumen (2009–2010)
• Eric Gerets (2010–)

References

External links

• Morocco FA official site
• Maroc Football
• The Atlas Lions – The Moroccan National Soccer Team – Mountakhab
• Maroc Football.info
• Moroccan National Team (Atlas-Lions)
• RSSSF archive of results