Morocco’s Mohammed VI Academy: Shaping World Cup Stars and Revitalizing National Soccer

It all started from the observation that Morocco was no longer shining in football: it was absent from the 2002 and 2006 World Cups, had failed to win the Africa Cup of Nations since 1976 (a final lost in 2004). These difficulties encountered by Moroccan football led to the idea of creating a national training center. The Mohammed VI Academy (AMF) was thus born. An initiative of King Mohammed VI who inaugurated in 2009 this training center based in Salé and built on 18 hectares. The academy has accommodation, school support, and administrative sections.

Years later, the Academy has become not only a quality pool but also one of the main suppliers of the national team as well as French clubs. Eleven of the 26 Atlas Lions who will play the third-place match of the World Cup came from its pitches. Among them, Nayef Aguerd, Azzedine Ounahi, and Youssef En-Nesyri. On the French club side, Strasbourg signed the goalkeepers Alaa Bellaarouch and Walid Hasbi, as well as the defender Anas Nanah, all trained in Salé. In 2018, the Alsatian club had also recruited Azzedine Ounahi, the revelation of the 2022 World Cup. This player surprised the Spanish coach Luis Enrique during the round of 16. "My God, where does this guy come from?" he had asked at the end of the match.

"Morocco has been working seriously on its training for a short time," notes Enzo Djebali, former head of recruitment at Stade de Reims for 20 Minutes. The Mohammed VI Academy is the jewel in the crown, and the realization of an awareness: there was no reason why in Africa, the academies of Jean-Marc Guillou and the Paradou Athletic Club (Algeria) should produce top players, and not Morocco."

The AMF has participated in many international tournaments. It recently won the Africa’s Cup, a competition for U19s bringing together several recognized academies in Agadir. These successes have prompted French clubs like Olympique Lyonnais to forge partnerships at the end of 2019, like with FUS Rabat (Moroccan D1). "The two entities are directly managed by the King’s office," explains Jean-François Vulliez, the director of the OL academy. "These are the two most elaborate training projects in Morocco, so it was natural to work together in the long term, given our DNA."