Morocco’s Football Boom: World Cup Success Sparks Surge in Youth Enrollment

In 2023, "we had 60% more registrations in our Casablanca complex and 300 more in the one in Bouskoura," notes Adil Halla, vice-president of Raja, one of the two clubs in the Moroccan economic capital, to the newspaper Le Monde. Parents are rushing to the training centers, academies and private football schools found in the big cities. Some can’t find a place for their children. "I’ve never seen that before," says Moncef Lyazghi, whose two sons have been enrolled for years in the FUS Rabat school. In Morocco, we also note a "footballization" of sport, with "young people who have preferred to let go of basketball or volleyball to play with their feet".

The era when Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo, the two stars of European football, were the models of inspiration for Moroccan supporters, children and young people, is over. "Today, everyone wants a Bounou or a Ziyech [the striker Hakim Ziyech, who plays for Galatasaray] in the family," says researcher in sports politics Moncef Lyazghi. The reputation of the Atlas Lions among Moroccan supporters is undiminished. "Have you ever seen children fight to become a goalkeeper?" questions Gabriel Hicham Guedira, founder of the Juventus academy in Casablanca, and former physical trainer of Grenoble Foot 38. "They want to look like Yassine Bounou [the goalkeeper of the Atlas Lions, who plays for the Saudi club Al-Hilal]," he laughs.

To read: Morocco’s Mohammed VI Academy: Shaping Elite Soccer Talent for National Team Success

After a long desert crossing, Moroccan football has awakened at all levels. "We went through a long desert crossing, admits journalist Amine Rahmouni, sports consultant for the Moroccan public radio 2M. Between the final lost at the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations and the appointment of Hervé Renard as coach in 2016, I almost only have bad memories." And to point out: "Renard reconciled us with our team and Regragui [Walid Regragui, the coach of the Atlas Lions] made us love it". On the side of the Lionesses of the Atlas, exploits have also been achieved. They reached the 2022 Africa Cup of Nations final, and reached the round of 16 at the last World Cup. A first. Ghizlane Chebbak and her teammates have also "brought Moroccan women closer to football," notes Moad Oukacha, president of Sporting Club de Casablanca, who finished second in the Women’s Champions League of the Africa Cup of Nations in 2023.

In addition to the Lionesses of the Atlas and the Atlas Lions, the authorities have also contributed to the development of Moroccan football through the success of the "Marshall plan", launched in 2020 by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), the development of grassroots football. "We are witnessing a spectacular development of associations and small clubs, with the multiplication of neighborhood pitches and a practice that is structured through real supervision and the organization of tournaments," notes Fadel Abdellaoui, a former member of the board of directors of Raja, who recalls how much football has always been important "from a social point of view".

Winner of the 2020 Africa Cup of Nations, semi-finalist of the 2022 World Cup, Arab champion in 2022 and 2023... "Morocco is living its golden age of global football," notes Amine Rahmouni.