In a couple of decades, Morocco went from being regularly eliminated in the group stages of the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) and failing to qualify for several successive World Cups to sitting inside the top 10 of the FIFA men’s rankings, reaching the semifinals at the Qatar World Cup in 2022 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 men’s national team but has been spread 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 U-20 FIFA World Cup champions, 2025 U-17 AFCON champions, 2024 Olympic men’s bronze medallists and 2024 Futsal AFCON champions.

There is no magic formula behind the success. A source close to the Royal Moroccan Football Federation explained that the country’s success rests on three pillars: good governance, financial investment and competent human resources.

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

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

“This was followed by massive investment in infrastructure at every level of the game. For instance, through cooperation with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation and the Moroccan government, we built thousands of local football pitches called ‘proximity fields’. These are open and accessible to everyone, serving mass participation across the country.”

In addition to that public infrastructure, Morocco built the Mohammed VI complex and academy in Maamoura, just outside Rabat. Replete with perfectly manicured pitches, the latest physical therapy equipment and an on-site hotel, the complex has been compared to the finest technical centres in world football, including France’s Clairefontaine.

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

Another major puzzle piece in the building of the North African powerhouse came when the African federations lobbied FIFA to reform national eligibility rules, which opened the door to players from their European-born diaspora. Thanks to those rule changes, Morocco secured the services of players like Hakim Ziyech, Nordin Amrabat and Brahim Diaz.

The latest addition to the Atlas Lions is Ayyoub Bouaddi. The 18-year-old Lille midfielder is one of the finest 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 steps down after the World Cup – contacted Bouaddi’s entourage to enquire about retaining him for Les Bleus.

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

“I don’t think we’ve ever had a player that young and with that much promise declare 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 join the team before, but France are the pre-eminent force in world football right now, and their midfield is ageing.

“[Bouaddi] probably had a clear pathway into that team. He captained their U-21s as recently as two months ago. I think with Samir El Mourabet, Neil El Aynaoui and Bilal El Khannous, it sets us up very nicely for the decade ahead.”

AFCON fallout

With the trajectory of Moroccan football pointing firmly upwards, it seems the only thing that could derail Morocco at the World Cup is the instability triggered by the 2025 AFCON final. In second-half stoppage time with the match headed to extra time at 0-0, referee Jean-Jacques Ndala awarded a dubious penalty in favour of Morocco.

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

Inexplicably, the match was not called off. After a delay of about 15 minutes, the Senegalese team returned to the pitch, and Brahim Diaz stepped up to take the penalty and attempted a panenka. Edouard Mendy did not budge off his line and calmly collected the shot, and Senegal went on to win in extra time.

At the post-match news conference in Rabat, the first question put to coach Walid Regragui – who had taken Morocco to the 2022 World Cup semifinal – was: “Will you resign tonight or tomorrow morning?”

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

“There’s an interesting parallel with Walid Regragui back 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 friendlies in March, and they showed that he had already begun implementing his ideas and playing style. But you can sense that many things aren’t completely settled yet. Ouahbi will still be looking for the right balance between the experienced players from the Regragui era and the new generation. A major overhaul isn’t possible in this timeframe.”

While many people think highly of Ouahbi, a valid question hangs over whether Regragui’s pragmatic style might have been better suited to the demands of a World Cup.

In Qatar, Morocco were undefeated in every match in which they had less than 50 percent possession, and the only game 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 be justified in maintaining high expectations for Morocco at the 2026 World Cup, but those who follow this team most closely understand that the tournament is just another milestone on a longer road that leads in four years to a World Cup played on home soil.

“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 across all its key dimensions: infrastructure, human capital, transportation, mobility and international attractiveness.”