Morocco

AFCON 2025 ran 21 December 2025 to 18 January 2026 across six host venues (Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, Tangier, Agadir and Fès). Morocco topped Group A, beat Mali in the round of 16 and Côte d'Ivoire in the quarter-finals. The semi-final at Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca was a 4-2 penalty win over Nigeria after extra time. The final at Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat on 18 January 2026 ended Senegal 1-0 Morocco after extra time, Pape Gueye scoring in the 94th minute.

The match exploded in the eighth minute of stoppage time. Senegal's El Hadji Malick Diouf held Morocco's Brahim Díaz in the penalty area; the VAR review awarded a Morocco penalty. Senegalese players protested. Senegal coach Pape Thiaw instructed his squad to leave the pitch. Sadio Mané eventually convinced his teammates to return after approximately 14 minutes. The match restarted, the penalty was missed and the final whistle blew on a 1-0 Senegal win.

On 17 March 2026 the CAF Appeal Board determined that Senegal had forfeited the match through their walk-off, citing Article 82 of the CAF competition regulations. Morocco was awarded a 3-0 forfeit win and the AFCON 2025 title — Morocco's second AFCON crown after 1976 and the country's first major continental trophy in 49 years. Senegal indicated plans to appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne. As of May 2026 the CAS appeal is pending.

Tournament awards: Brahim Díaz (Morocco, 5 goals) won the Golden Boot, Sadio Mané was named Best Player, Yassine Bono won Best Goalkeeper. Morocco took the Fair Play Award. Walid Regragui resigned as head coach on 5 March 2026, citing the post-tournament political and media climate; Mohamed Ouahbi was appointed his successor.

Morocco won CAF Group E unbeaten in 2025 to seal their fifth consecutive World Cup qualification (1994, 1998, 2018, 2022, 2026). They were drawn into Group C of the 2026 expanded 48-team tournament at the FIFA draw on 5 December 2025. The tournament is co-hosted by Canada, Mexico and the United States from 11 June to 19 July 2026. Morocco's group-stage venues will be confirmed in the FIFA fixture release in May 2026.

Morocco's pedigree gives them a clear seeding advantage. The 2022 fourth-place finish is the highest by an African nation in World Cup history. The squad spine — Hakimi, Bono, Aguerd, En-Nesyri, Sofiane Boufal, Brahim Díaz, Azzedine Ounahi, Ismael Saibari — is largely intact, with the Mohammed VI Academy continuing to produce credible new options at full-back and attacking midfield. The risk factor is the Ouahbi-Regragui transition: a new coach inheriting tournament-winning principles three months before the World Cup is unusual at top-tier level.

Wydad AC (founded 8 May 1937) hold 22 Botola titles — a Moroccan record — and three CAF Champions League trophies (1992, 2017, 2022). Raja CA (founded 20 March 1949) hold 13 Botola titles and three CAF Champions League trophies (1989, 1997, 1999). Both share the Stade Mohammed V in Casablanca's Maârif district, capacity 45,891 for major fixtures, and both have ultras movements (Wydad's Winners 2005 and Raja's Eagles 06) ranked among the world's most active.

AS FAR Rabat is the third giant. Founded 1 September 1958 by Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan (later King Hassan II), AS FAR are the Royal Armed Forces' football club. They won the 1985 CAF Champions League — the first Moroccan side to do so — and play at the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium (capacity 69,500) in Rabat. AS FAR are in the 2025-26 CAF Champions League final against Mamelodi Sundowns, with the second leg in Rabat on 24 May 2026.

The wider top flight has rebalanced in recent seasons. RS Berkane took the 2024-25 Botola title — their first championship — and are two-time CAF Confederation Cup winners (2019-20, 2021-22). FUS Rabat won 2015-16 under Walid Regragui. The competitive depth, plus FRMF investment in stadium infrastructure ahead of the 2025 AFCON and 2030 World Cup, has made the Botola the wealthiest league in West and North Africa outside Egypt.

The Mohammed VI Football Academy in Salé, founded in 2009 by King Mohammed VI, is the structural backbone. Achraf Hakimi spent early formative time there before Real Madrid. Youssef En-Nesyri, Nayef Aguerd and Azzedine Ounahi are full Academy graduates. The institution is FRMF-funded, free for accepted boys aged 13-18, and runs alongside an academic curriculum aligned with the Moroccan baccalauréat.

The European diaspora is the larger pool. France's 1.5-million-strong Moroccan community, Belgium's 500,000-plus, the Netherlands' 400,000-plus and Spain's 800,000-plus produce footballers who pass through European youth structures and then commit to Morocco. The 2022 World Cup squad included 14 European-born players. Sofyan Amrabat (Verona-born), Hakim Ziyech (Dronten-born), Noussair Mazraoui (Leiderdorp-born) and Romain Saïss (Bourg-de-Péage-born) all chose Morocco at senior level.

FRMF has run a deliberate diaspora-engagement programme since 2019, with scouting hubs in Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam and Madrid. The political incentive is clear: AFCON 2025 winners and 2022 World Cup semi-finalists carry diplomatic value across Morocco's diaspora foreign policy, especially in France, where the 2022 semi-final week was the most-watched television event in French Moroccan-community history.

Domestic broadcast: SNRT's Arryadia channel carries every Atlas Lions match and selected Botola Pro fixtures. 2M, the second public broadcaster, covers AFCON tournament rounds and selected internationals. Premium subscribers use beIN Sports MENA for full Botola Pro and CAF Champions League coverage. The Botola also has a sponsored streaming platform but the rights structure is split between domestic and beIN Sports.

Betting: Morocco's only legally licensed sports-betting product is operated by La Marocaine des Jeux et des Sports (MDJS), the state-owned lottery and gaming monopoly, primarily through the Cote Sport platform. Online private operators are not licensed locally. Off-shore betting on Atlas Lions matches is widely available but unregulated, and the Ministry of Interior periodically issues warnings ahead of major tournaments. The post-2025 AFCON discussion in the Moroccan press has flagged a regulatory review for the 2030 World Cup window.