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 has 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 the second Arab 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 recordFIFA World Cup qualification recordYearRoundPosition 1930Not a FIFA memberNot a FIFA member 1934 1938 1950 1954 1958 1962Did not qualify722378 1966WithdrewWithdrew 1970Group stage14th30122610442117 1974Did not qualify104331213 1978202022 1982832356 1986Round of 1611th4121328521121 1990Did not qualify613245 1994Group stage23rd30032510721194 199818th3111556510142 2002Did not qualify10631113 200610550177 2010103341413 2014623198 2018Group stage27th3012248431131 2022Fourth place4th7322658710253 2026 Quarter-finals 7th 6 3 2 1 10 68800222 2030Qualified as co-hostsQualified as co-hosts 2034To be determinedTo be determinedTotal7/23298912303312766392219785 Morocco's World Cup recordFirst match 1–2 (León, Mexico; 3 June 1970)Biggest Win 3–0 (Saint-Étienne, France; 23 June 1998) 3–0 (Houston, United States; 4 July 2026)Biggest Defeat 3–0 (León, Mexico; 6 June 1970) 3–0 (Nantes, France; 16 June 1998)Best ResultFourth place in 2022Worst ResultGroup stage in 1970, 1994, 1998, 2018
List of matches World CupRoundDateOpponentScoreResultMorocco scorersRef. 1970Group 43 June 19701–2LJarir6 June 19700–3L11 June 19701–1DGhazouani 1986Group F2 June 19860–0D6 June 19860–0D11 June 19863–1WKhairi (2), MerryRound of 1617 June 19860–1L 1994Group F19 June 19940–1L25 June 19941–2LChaouch29 June 19941–2LNader 1998Group A10 June 19982–2DHadji, Hadda16 June 19980–3L23 June 19983–0WBassir (2), Hadda 2018Group B15 June 20180–1L20 June 20180–1L25 June 20182–2DBoutaïb, En-Nesyri 2022Group F23 November 20220–0D27 November 20222–0WSaïss, Aboukhlal1 December 20222–1WEn-Nesyri, ZiyechRound of 166 December 20220–0 DQuarter-finals10 December 20221–0WEn-NesyriSemi-finals14 December 20220–2LMatch for third place17 December 20221–2LDari 2026Group C13 June 20261–1DSaibari19 June 20261–0WSaibari24 June 20264–2WHakimi, Saibari, Rahimi, YassineRound of 3229 June 20261–1 DDiopRound of 164 July 20263–0WOunahi (2), RahimiQuarter-finals9 July 20260–2L 2030TBAJune 2030TBAJune 2030TBAJune 2030TBA
1970 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
1986 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
Knockout stage
Round of 16
1994 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
1998 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
2018 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
2022 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
Knockout stage
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Semi-finals
Match for third place
2026 FIFA World Cup
Group Stage
Knockout stage
Round of 32
Round of 16
Quarter-finals
Head-to-head record OpponentWin %Total
Player records Correct as of 9 July 2026, after the match against France.
Most appearances RankPlayerMatchesWorld Cups1Achraf Hakimi162018, 2022 and 20262Azzedine Ounahi132022 and 20263Yassine Bounou122018, 2022 and 20264Sofyan Amrabat112018, 2022 and 2026Noussair Mazraoui112022 and 20266Hakim Ziyech102018 and 20227Youssef En-Nesyri 82018 and 2022Romain Saïss82018 and 20229Selim Amallah72022Sofiane Boufal72022Bilal El Khannouss72022 and 2026
Goalscorers On 3 June 1970, Houmane Jarir made history by scoring Morocco's first-ever FIFA World Cup goal, coming in the 21st minute of their opening match against West Germany in León.
Player Goals 1970 1986 1994 1998 2018 2022 2026 Youssef En-Nesyri 3 12 Ismael Saibari 3 3 Abderrazak Khairi 2 2 Salaheddine Bassir 2 2 Abdeljalil Hadda 2 2 Azzedine Ounahi 2 2 Soufiane Rahimi 2 2 Houmane Jarir 11 Maouhoub Ghazouani 11 Abdelkrim Merry 1 1 Mohammed Chaouch 1 1 Hassan Nader 1 1 Mustapha Hadji 1 1 Khalid Boutaïb 1 1 Achraf Dari 1 1 Zakaria Aboukhlal 1 1 Hakim Ziyech 1 1 Abdelhamid Sabiri 1 1 Achraf Hakimi 1 1 Gessime Yassine 1 1 Issa Diop 1 1 Total 302 3 2 5 2 6 10
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 seven matches in one edition. 2022: First African team to achieve fourth place in the tournament. 2026: First African team to reach the quarter-finals twice. 2030: The second African (after South Africa), Arab (after Qatar) and first North African country to host the FIFA World Cup.
Records Most wins by an African nation: 8 wins Most matches played by an African nation: 29 matches Most goals scored by an African nation: 30 goals
Team Records Most appearances: Achraf Hakimi (16 Appearances) Most goals scored : Youssef En-Nesyri & Ismael Saibari (3 Goals) Most assists: Brahim Díaz (4 assists)
See also African nations at the FIFA World Cup Morocco at the Africa Cup of Nations
References
Reports
External links Morocco at FIFA