The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the men's national teams of the members of Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The championship has been awarded every four years since the first tournament in 1930, except in 1942 and 1946, due to World War II.
The tournament consists of two parts, the qualification phase and the final phase (officially called the World Cup Finals). The qualification phase, which currently takes place over the three years preceding the Finals, is used to determine which teams qualify for the Finals. The current format of the Finals involves 48 teams competing for the title, at venues within the host nation (or nations) over a period of about a month. The World Cup final is the most widely viewed sporting event in the world, with an estimated 715.1 million people watching the 2006 tournament final.
Morocco have qualified for the final stages of the FIFA World Cup on seven occasions, which were in 1970, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2018, 2022 and 2026. Their best performance was in 2022, when they finished in fourth place, thus becoming both the first African and Arab nation to reach a semi-final at a World Cup.
Morocco is set to become the second African nation, the second MENA nation, the first North African and first Amazigh nation to host the World Cup when it was granted host status for the 2030 edition alongside the two European countries Portugal and Spain.
Overall record
| FIFA World Cup record | FIFA World Cup qualification record | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Round | Position | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | ||
| 1930 | Not a FIFA member | Not a FIFA member | ||||||||||||||
| 1934 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1938 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1950 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1954 | ||||||||||||||||
| 1958 | Did not enter | Did not enter | ||||||||||||||
| 1962 | Did not qualify | 7 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 7 | 8 | |||||||||
| 1966 | Withdrew | Withdrew | ||||||||||||||
| 1970 | Group stage | 14th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 10 | 4 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 7 | ||
| 1974 | Did not qualify | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 12 | 13 | |||||||||
| 1978 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | ||||||||||
| 1982 | 8 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 6 | ||||||||||
| 1986 | Round of 16 | 11th | 4 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 8 | 5 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 1 | ||
| 1990 | Did not qualify | 6 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | 5 | |||||||||
| 1994 | Group stage | 23rd | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 7 | 2 | 1 | 19 | 4 | ||
| 1998 | 18th | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 14 | 2 | |||
| 2002 | Did not qualify | 10 | 6 | 3 | 1 | 11 | 3 | |||||||||
| 2006 | 10 | 5 | 5 | 0 | 17 | 7 | ||||||||||
| 2010 | 10 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 14 | 13 | ||||||||||
| 2014 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 9 | 8 | ||||||||||
| 2018 | Group stage | 27th | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 4 | 3 | 1 | 13 | 1 | ||
| 2022 | Fourth place | 4th | 7 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 5 | 8 | 7 | 1 | 0 | 25 | 3 | ||
| 2026 | Qualified | 8 | 8 | 0 | 0 | 22 | 2 | |||||||||
| 2030 | Qualified as co-hosts | Qualified as co-hosts | ||||||||||||||
| 2034 | To be determined | To be determined | ||||||||||||||
| Total | Fourth place | 7/23 | 23 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 27 | 127 | 66 | 39 | 22 | 197 | 85 | ||
| Morocco's World Cup record | |
|---|---|
| First match | Morocco 1–2 Germany (León, Mexico; 3 June 1970) |
| Biggest Win | Morocco 3–0 Scotland (Saint-Étienne, France; 23 June 1998) |
| Biggest Defeat | Peru 3–0 Morocco (León, Mexico; 6 June 1970) Brazil 3–0 Morocco |
| Best Result | Fourth place in 2022 |
| Worst Result | Group stage in 1970, 1994, 1998, 2018 |
By match
| World Cup | Round | Date | Opponent | Score | Result | Morocco scorers | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1970 | Group 4 | 3 June 1970 | West Germany | 1–2 | L | Jarir | |
| 6 June 1970 | Peru | 0–3 | L | — | |||
| 11 June 1970 | Bulgaria | 1–1 | D | Ghazouani | |||
| 1986 | Group F | 2 June 1986 | Poland | 0–0 | D | — | |
| 6 June 1986 | England | 0–0 | D | — | |||
| 11 June 1986 | Portugal | 3–1 | W | Khairi (2), Merry | |||
| Round of 16 | 17 June 1986 | West Germany | 0–1 | L | — | ||
| 1994 | Group F | 19 June 1994 | Belgium | 0–1 | L | — | |
| 25 June 1994 | Saudi Arabia | 1–2 | L | Chaouch | |||
| 29 June 1994 | Netherlands | 1–2 | L | Nader | |||
| 1998 | Group A | 10 June 1998 | Norway | 2–2 | D | Hadji, Hadda | |
| 16 June 1998 | Brazil | 0–3 | L | — | |||
| 23 June 1998 | Scotland | 3–0 | W | Bassir (2), Hadda | |||
| 2018 | Group B | 15 June 2018 | Iran | 0–1 | L | — | |
| 20 June 2018 | Portugal | 0–1 | L | — | |||
| 25 June 2018 | Spain | 2–2 | D | Boutaïb, En-Nesyri | |||
| 2022 | Group F | 23 November 2022 | Croatia | 0–0 | D | — | |
| 27 November 2022 | Belgium | 2–0 | W | Saïss, Aboukhlal | |||
| 1 December 2022 | Canada | 2–1 | W | En-Nesyri, Ziyech | |||
| Round of 16 | 6 December 2022 | Spain | 0–0 (a.e.t.) (3–0 p) | D | — | ||
| Quarter-final | 10 December 2022 | Portugal | 1–0 | W | En-Nesyri | ||
| Semi-final | 14 December 2022 | France | 0–2 | L | — | ||
| Third place play-off | 17 December 2022 | Croatia | 1–2 | L | Dari | ||
| 2026 | Group C | 13 June 2026 | Brazil | ||||
| 19 June 2026 | Scotland | ||||||
| 24 June 2026 | Haiti |
Squads
Record players
Most matches played
| Rank | Player | Matches | World Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Achraf Hakimi | 10 | 2018 and 2022 |
| Hakim Ziyech | 10 | 2018 and 2022 | |
| 2 | Youssef En-Nesyri | 8 | 2018 and 2022 |
| Romain Saiss | 8 | 2018 and 2022 | |
| Sofyan Amrabat | 8 | 2018 and 2022 | |
| 3 | Sofiane Boufal | 7 | 2022 |
| Selim Amallah | 7 | 2022 | |
| Azzedine Ounahi | 7 | 2022 | |
| 4 | Yahia Attiyat Allah | 6 | 2022 |
| Jawad El Yamiq | 6 | 2022 | |
| Yassine Bounou | 6 | 2018 and 2022 | |
| Mustapha Hadji | 6 | 1994 and 1998 | |
| 5 | Noussair Mazraoui | 5 | 2022 |
| Abdelhamid Sabiri | 5 | 2022 | |
| Rachid Azzouzi | 5 | 1994 and 1998 | |
| Abdelkrim El Hadrioui | 5 | 1994 and 1998 | |
| Tahar El Khalej | 5 | 1994 and 1998 | |
| Noureddine Naybet | 5 | 1994 and 1998 |
Top goalscorers
| Rank | Player | Goals | World Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Youssef En-Nesyri | 3 | 2018, 2022 |
| 2 | Abderrazak Khairi | 2 | 1986 |
| Salaheddine Bassir | 2 | 1998 | |
| Abdeljalil Hadda | 2 | 1998 | |
| 5 | Maouhoub Ghazouani | 1 | 1970 |
| Houmane Jarir | 1 | 1970 | |
| Abdelkrim Merry | 1 | 1986 | |
| Mohammed Chaouch | 1 | 1994 | |
| Hassan Nader | 1 | 1994 | |
| Mustapha Hadji | 1 | 1998 | |
| Khalid Boutaïb | 1 | 2018 | |
| Achraf Dari | 1 | 2022 | |
| Zakaria Aboukhlal | 1 | 2022 | |
| Hakim Ziyech | 1 | 2022 | |
| Abdelhamid Sabiri | 1 | 2022 |
Most tournament appearances
Altogether thirteen players share the record of two participations.
| Rank | Player | World Cups |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Noureddine Naybet | 1994, 1998 |
| Mustapha Hadji | 1994, 1998 | |
| Tahar El Khalej | 1994, 1998 | |
| Abdelkrim El Hadrioui | 1994, 1998 | |
| Smahi Triki | 1994, 1998 | |
| Yassine Bounou | 2018, 2022 | |
| Achraf Hakimi | 2018, 2022 | |
| Sofyan Amrabat | 2018, 2022 | |
| Romain Saïss | 2018, 2022 | |
| Hakim Ziyech | 2018, 2022 | |
| Munir Mohamedi | 2018, 2022 | |
| Youssef En-Nesyri | 2018, 2022 | |
| Reda Tagnaouti | 2018, 2022 |
Historical performances
The Morocco team had many records during its participations in the world cup.
- 1970: First African country to draw a match at the World Cup Finals, with 1–1 draw with Bulgaria.
- 1986: First African and Arab team to reach round of 16.
- 1986: First African and Arab team to top the group stage.
- 1998: Youssef Chippo of Morocco. first African to score an own goal at the World Cup, in the 2–2 draw against Norway on 10 June 1998.
- 2018: Sofyan Amrabat of Morocco, who came on as a substitute for his brother Nordin Amrabat in the 76th minute in the group match against Iran, is the first player in World Cup history to come in for his brother.
- 2022: First African team to reach 7 points at the group stage.
- 2022: First Arab nation to advance to the quarter-finals by defeating Spain 3–0 in a penalty shoot-out.
- 2022: Morocco becomes first African and first Arab nation to reach semi-finals following a 1–0 victory over Portugal.
- 2022: Walid Regragui of Morocco, first African and Arab manager to reach the quarter-finals and the semi-finals.
- 2022: First African team to play 7 matches in one edition.
- 2022: First African team to achieve fourth place in the tournament.
- 2030: The second African, Arab and first North African country to host the FIFA World Cup.
See also
Head-to-head record
| Opponent | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Belgium | 2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 50.00 |
| Brazil | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 0.00 |
| Bulgaria | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | +0 | 0.00 |
| Canada | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | +1 | 100.00 |
| Croatia | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.00 |
| England | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | 0.00 |
| France | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | −2 | 0.00 |
| Germany | 2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 3 | −2 | 0.00 |
| Iran | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | −1 | 0.00 |
| Netherlands | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.00 |
| Norway | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 0.00 |
| Peru | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | −3 | 0.00 |
| Poland | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | +0 | 0.00 |
| Portugal | 3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | +2 | 66.67 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | −1 | 0.00 |
| Scotland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | +3 | 100.00 |
| Spain | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 2 | +0 | 0.00 |
| Total | 23 | 5 | 7 | 11 | 20 | 27 | −7 | 21.74 |
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