Morocco A' national 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 (12) | ||
| FIFA code | MAR | ||
| |||
| African Nations Championship | |||
| Appearances | 4 (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 is the only team to win the African Nations Championship twice in a row in 2018 and 2021.
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.
However, Moroccan fans could enjoy not only the hosting of the CHAN in the kingdom two years later in 2018, 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.
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.
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.
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.[2]
In February 2021, Morocco won their second title after a 2–0 win over Mali in the final in Cameroon.
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
|
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 |
To be determined | ||||||||||||||
| Total | 2 Titles | 4/6 | 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 | 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 | Report |
|
Stadium: Stade de la Réunification Referee: Boubou Traore (Mali) |
| 31 January 2020 CHAN QF | Morocco | 3–1 |  Zambia | Douala, Cameroon |
| 17:00 | Report |
|
Stadium: Stade de la Réunification Referee: Pacifique Ndabihawenimana (Burundi) |
| 3 February 2020 CHAN SF | Morocco | 4–0 | Cameroon | Limbe, Cameroon |
| 20:00 |
|
Report | Stadium: Limbe Stadium Referee: Jean Ngambo (DR Congo) |
| 7 February 2020 CHAN F | Mali  | 0–2 | Morocco | Yaoundé, Cameroon |
| 20:00 | Report | Stadium: Stade Ahmadou Ahidjo Referee: Peter Waweru (Kenya) |
| 16 November Friendly | Singapore  | 1–7 | Morocco | Sharjah, UAE |
| 14:00 (UTC+1) |
|
Report | Stadium: Al Hamriya Sports Club Stadium |
| 1 December 2021 2021 FAC GS | Morocco | 4–0 |  Palestine | Al Wakrah, Qatar |
| 19:00 | Report | Stadium: Al Janoub Stadium Referee: Matthew Conger (New Zealand) |
| 4 December 2021 2021 FAC GS | Jordan  | 0–4 | Morocco | Al Rayyan, Qatar |
| 13:00 | Report | Stadium: Ahmed bin Ali Stadium Referee: Facundo Tello (Argentina) |
| 7 December 2021 2021 FAC GS | Morocco | 1–0 |  Saudi Arabia | Doha, Qatar |
| 18:00 |
|
Report | Stadium: Al Thumama Stadium Referee: (Uruguay) |
| 11 December 2021 2021 FIFA Arab Cup | Morocco A' | v | Algeria A' | Doha, Qatar |
| 22:00 | Report | Stadium: Al Thumama Stadium Referee: Wilton Sampaio (Brazil) |
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 | |
| 3 | Togo
|
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 5 | −1 | 3 | |
| 4 | Uganda
|
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 7 | −4 | 1 |
| Morocco | 1–0 | Togo |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
| Uganda | 2–5 | Morocco |
|---|---|---|
| Report |
|
Quarter-finals[]
| Morocco | 3–1 | Zambia |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
|
Semi-finals[]
| Morocco | 4–0 | Cameroon |
|---|---|---|
|
Report |
Final[]
Series of matches without defeat[]
The Moroccan local team has won 33 matches without defeat (28 wins and 5 draws).[]