Morocco A' national football team

Morocco local football team
Nickname(s)	The Atlas Lions
Association	FRMF (Morocco)
Confederation	CAF (Africa)
Head coach	Hussein Ammouta
Captain	Badr Benoun
Most caps	Abdelilah Hafidi (25)
Top scorer	Ayoub El Kaabi (14)
FIFA code	MAR
First colours	Second colours
African Nations Championship
Appearances	5 (first in 2014)
Best result	Champions (2018, 2020)
Arab Cup
Appearances	4 (first in 1998)
Best result	Champions (2012)

The Morocco A' national football team (Arabic: منتخب المغرب لكرة القدم للمحليين) is the local national football team of Morocco and is open only to domestic league players.^[1] It has won the African Nations Championship twice (2018 and 2020).

The primary men's Morocco national football team contains expatriate players and represents Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations.

History

The Local Atlas Lions were eliminated in the qualifiers for the first two editions of the African Nations Championship (CHAN) in 2009 and 2011, before qualifying for the first time to the CHAN in the 2014 edition, which was hosted in South Africa instead of Libya, who were initially supposed to organize the only continental national competition for local players.

During their first participation in the competition, the Moroccans, led by coach Hassan Benaabicha (who, in replacement of Rachid Taoussi, was asked to manage the team just a few days before the start of the final tournament), did not make it past the second round. Rachid Taoussi had been behind the qualification of the Moroccans to the competition, but did not have the chance to go further than that, as he was replaced by Benaabicha, who had done well in various regional and international competitions at the time with other lower categories Moroccan national teams.

The first two matches for the Moroccans in the tournament were 0–0 and 1–1 draws against Zimbabwe and Burkina Faso, respectively. It was only after the third match that the Local Atlas Lions could ensure qualification to the second round, after beating Uganda 3–1. In the quarter-finals, Morocco were beaten surprisingly by Nigeria 3–4, after leading 3–0 in the first half.

In 2016, it was another Moroccan coach, with the famous name of Mohamed “El General” Fakhir, who led the Moroccans to qualification for the second consecutive time at the CHAN, which was organized in Rwanda. However, this was even worse than their previous tournament run, with the Atlas Lions eliminated in the first round after finishing third in their group.

The team's final match, an astonishing 4–1 win against host country Rwanda, could not prevent the Moroccans' elimination; they had already suffered a scoreless draw against Gabon and a 0–1 defeat against the Ivory Coast in their first two matches.^[2]

However, Moroccan fans could enjoy not only the hosting of the CHAN in the kingdom two years later in 2018,^[3] but also a tournament victory for their local national team, which became the third North African country to win the competition's title, after Tunisia, winners in 2011, and Libya in 2014.^[4] The road was not easy for Moroccan players, who were coached by Jamal Sellami in 2018, as they had to face strong, experienced African National teams, especially in the semi-final and final matches. In the group phase, the path was easier, with a 4–0 victory against Mauritania followed by a second 3–1 win against Guinea, before a scoreless draw against Sudan in the final group match. The Local Atlas Lions finished top of their group with 7 points out of 9 to advance to the quarter-finals, where they beat Namibia 2–0 in Casablanca.^[5]^[6]

On 31 January 2018, Al Mountakhab made history, as they qualified for the final match of the CHAN for the first time in their history after beating 2014 title winners Libya 3–1 at the Mohamed V stadium in Casablanca.^[7] The final match was a flurry of Moroccan goals. Four in total were scored, by Zakaria Hadraf in both the 44th and 61st minutes, Walid El Karti in the 64th minute, as well as Ayoub El Kaabi (top scorer of the competition) in the 73rd minute, to win a first CHAN title for the kingdom.^[8]^[9]

In February 2021, Morocco won their second title after a 2–0 win over Mali in the final in Cameroon.^[10]

African Nations Championship record

African Nations Championship record									African Nations Championship qualification record

Year	Round	Position	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA
2009	Did not qualify								4	1	2	1	5	6
2011	Did not qualify								2	0	2	0	3	3
2014	Quarter-finals	8th	4	1	2	1	7	6	2	1	1	0	1	0
2016	Group stage	10th	3	1	1	1	4	2	4	3	1	0	11	3
2018	Champions	1st	6	5	1	0	16	2	2	1	1	0	4	2
2020	Champions	1st	6	5	1	0	15	3	2	1	1	0	3	0
2022	Withdrew
2024	To be determined								To be detemined
Total	2 Titles	4/7	19	12	5	2	42	13	16	7	8	1	27	14

Recent results and forthcoming fixtures

2021

18 January 2020 CHAN	Morocco	1–0	Togo	Douala, Cameroon
17:00	Jabrane 27' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Stade de la Réunification Referee: Andofetra Rakotojaona (Madagascar)

22 January 2020 CHAN	Morocco	0–0	Rwanda	Douala, Cameroon
17:00		Report		Stadium: Stade de la Réunification Referee: Ahmad Heeralall (Mauritius)

26 January 2020 CHAN	Uganda	2–5	Morocco	Douala, Cameroon
20:00	Orit 25' Kyeyune 84'	Report	El Kaabi 45+4' (pen) Rahimi 51', 80' El Moussaoui 71' Lukwago 90+2' (o.g.)	Stadium: Stade de la Réunification Referee: Boubou Traore (Mali)

31 January 2020 CHAN QF	Morocco	3–1	Zambia	Douala, Cameroon
17:00	Rahimi 1' Ali Bemammer 8' El Kaabi 39' (pen.)	Report	Phiri 80'	Stadium: Stade de la Réunification Referee: Pacifique Ndabihawenimana (Burundi)

3 February 2020 CHAN SF	Morocco	4–0	Cameroon	Limbe, Cameroon
20:00	Bouftini 29' Rahimi 40', 74' Ali Bemammer 82'	Report		Stadium: Limbe Stadium Referee: Jean Ngambo (DR Congo)

7 February 2020 CHAN F	Mali	0–2	Morocco	Yaoundé, Cameroon
20:00		Report	Bouftini 68' El Kaabi 79'	Stadium: Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo Referee: Peter Waweru (Kenya)

16 November Friendly	Singapore	1–7	Morocco	Sharjah, UAE
14:00 (UTC+1)	Nazrul 88'	Report	Naji 17' Azaro 37' Jabrane 47' (pen.) El Haddad 62', 85' Ennafati 75' Fettouhi 80'	Stadium: Al Hamriya Sports Club Stadium

1 December 2021 2021 FAC GS	Morocco	4–0	Palestine	Al Wakrah, Qatar
19:00	Nahiri 31' Hafidi 56', 64' Benoun 87' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Al Janoub Stadium Attendance: 3,843 Referee: Matthew Conger (New Zealand)

4 December 2021 2021 FAC GS	Jordan	0–4	Morocco	Al Rayyan, Qatar
13:00		Report	Jabrane 4' Benoun 25' Chibi 45+3' Rahimi 88' (pen.)	Stadium: Ahmed bin Ali Stadium Attendance: 7,890 Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina)

7 December 2021 2021 FAC GS	Morocco	1–0	Saudi Arabia	Doha, Qatar
18:00	El Berkaoui 45+4' (pen.)	Report		Stadium: Al Thumama Stadium Attendance: 8,502 Referee: Andrés Matonte (Uruguay)

11 December 2021 2021 FAC QF	Morocco A'	2-2 (a.e.t.) (3–5 p)	Algeria A'	Doha, Qatar
22:00	Nahiri 64' Benoun 111'	Report	Brahimi 62' (pen.) Belaïli 102'	Stadium: Al Thumama Stadium Attendance: 24,823 Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil)
	Penalties
	Rahimi Benoun Jabrane El Berkaoui		Belaïli Bendebka Bedrane Benayada Tougai

2022

20 August Friendly	Qatar	2–2	Morocco	Vienna, Austria
	Assadalla 11' Correia 65'		Jabrane 13' (pen.) Oubila 42'	Stadium: Ernst-Happel-Stadion

23 August Friendly	Jamaica	0–3	Morocco	Vienna, Austria
16:00 UTC+1			Hamoudan 33' Nahiri 74' (pen.) Slim 80'	Stadium: Ernst-Happel-Stadion

Current team status

2020 African Nations Championship

Group C

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification
1	Morocco	3	2	1	0	6	2	+4	7	Knockout stage
2	Rwanda	3	1	2	0	3	2	+1	5	Knockout stage
3	Togo	3	1	0	2	4	5	−1	3
4	Uganda	3	0	1	2	3	7	−4	1

Updated to match(es) played on 22 January 2021. Source: CAF
Rules for classification: Tiebreakers

18 January 2021