How Morocco Became So Good At Football

In September 2010, Morocco were ranked 95th in the FIFA World Rankings and 24th in Africa, having failed to qualify for a third successive FIFA World Cup - and they made that four with failure to qualify in 2014.

Fast forward to 2023, and Morocco rank 11th in the FIFA World Rankings and 1st in Africa, having become the first African national team to reach a World Cup semi final in Qatar in 2022.

So in this documentary, HITC Sevens takes a look at Morocco's stunning rise, how it happened, and whether the best could still be yet to come.

[thomasjohnson]

The portrayal of Morocco as a defensive team here and elsewhere isn’t really fair because they played good passing football at the World Cup. They would set up deep, but when they won the ball in deep areas they played a short passing game and took a lot of risks, often giving it to Amrabat in crowded midfield positions and passing it back to Bounou the goalkeeper who’d try to pass it to his teammates under pressure himself, and would often transition from defence to attack by playing several quick short passes through the opposition press

[mebansharaisantasticokhong]

They play the best form of attack in international football, fluid, non positional and free flowing, Skillful dribbles and risky passing, players move anywhere they want on the pitch to form creative combinations, a Relationalism form of football that Brazil use to play in the past

[depekthegreat]

Morroco is one of my favourite respective national men's teams ever and their club football is on the rise as well as talents and rising talents as well as performing their best ever FIFA World Cup by creating a history by being the first African nation to go up to the semi final stage, good friends!!!Wow!!!I can see them slowly dominating the African football even though, they did peak at their best during the 1970's and 1980's and maybe, the world football through their club football, good friends!!!LONG LIVE, MORROCO AND MORROCAN FOOTBALL!!!🇲🇦

[yeetpotatoes]

I can see Morocco becoming a powerhouse in both the men's and women's game in the next 5-10 years, the progress of youth development and the pathway to becoming professional is a huge factor for rising stars on both sides to gain so much experience.

[believeinbuffalo]

I didn't really get into football until watching Morocco during this world cup so the atlas lions will always have a place in my heart

[aidbotwoody]

I genuinely hope that Morrocco can create enough of a challenge to the African establishment to force improvements elsewhere on the continent

[Torinna_]

As a Sevilla fan, Bounou has to be one of the most underrated keepers right now

[alilahrech]

As a Moroccan Fan of the channel. Thank you so much Alfie 🇲🇦🇲🇦

[brutanedda]

I always knew Morocco were going places. Here in Italy when I played in the public football field moroccan kids came to play all the time, and they were always the most technical out of all the italian kids. I think great moroccan talents went to play for France or Spain and the one team that we have today it's a case of stars aligning, it's a golden generation indeed.

[divaio]

Moroccan people are generous and friendly people 🇮🇹

[Yhsprs]

Great video as always. I'd love it if you made a video about Javier Tebas, the president if laliga. He seems controversial, with his comments about Barcelona and the recent Vinicius incident. I'd love it of you made a in-depth video about his controversies and the direction he is taking laliga in.

[JinZanmato]

We got a decent size community of Morrocon immigrants here in Norway, and it has resulted in several football players emerged from that community. Players like Tarik Elyounoussi, Mohammed Elyounoussi, Omar Elabdellaoui, Mohammed Abdellaoue and Mustafa Abdellaoue who all choose to play for Norway. One of the brightest talents that we have now, Osame Sahraoui is also of Morrocon descent. Unfortunately for us in Norway, it might look like he wants to represent Morocco in the future. 😄

[salsadancer]

Morocco 86 bouderbala khairi timoumi zaki Badou. Fantastic team.

[guessundheit]

Passion and youth development are everything. The day before this video (sorry to mention hockey again), Latvia won bronze at the IIHF World Championships, a country of 1.9 million beating the US with 340 million. Also important is long term commitment to that development, such as Germany's 10-20 year plan starting at the youth level that preceded four consecutive World Cup semifinal appearances. (See also: Iceland's Euro miracle.)

[seandelap]

What i remember most about Moroccan football prior to their semi final run in the 2022 WC is Mustapha Hadji and his ponytail

[MuhammadUsman-mijk]

I remember watching all those games growing up back in 2007-2016 when Morocco would just lose all the time and losing all hope. I didn’t watch the Belgium/Morocco game because I thought we would lose and when I woke up at the 91st minute and saw we were up 1 goal then watched us win 2-0, part of me healed in a way. All those days of disappointment led to something I thought would only be in my imagination. Thank you for everything Dima Maghrib ❤️💚

[journaiistic]

As a Frenchman myself, I would just like to point out even though I would personally say that we were the better team with a fair bit better tactics, it was actually more one sided than you would think, I feel as if it would’ve been a closer game. When the game started, Morocco played it’s normal 5-4-1, but this time 2 defenders were injured, including team captain and vital player, Roman Saiss, this eventually led to the early French goal by 5 minutes. This ended up forcing Morocco to play a 3-4-3 position and now without 2 of their most important defenders, this ended up in the Randal Kolo Muani second goal, as Yamat Allah, Saiss’ substitute(in my opinion at least), could’ve done better, bro didn’t even bother to even attempt a tackle during the goal. There was also a penalty that should’ve been awarded as Tchouameni is seen holding Amellah in the box, a clear penalty. That’s the only error made by the ref, in my opinion as the challenge on Boufal was more like a collision. I wish them luck in 2026, Dima Maghreb.

[dennisaddo]

Thumbs up👍
I'd love to see a similar video discussing Senegal.
They won both the African Cup of nations and African Nations Championship.
As well as getting to the RO16 at the world cup and producing talents such as Mane, Koulibaly etc.

[leaguesmanoframsgate]

Proper comment: I really appreciate this deep dive into Moroccan football, and I'm not surprised at the quality. DR Congo next? =]

[anas]

Thoroughly enjoyed this video-documentary. I can't imagine the volume of work and research done to sum everything up. Impressive! 👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻