#21. Morocco 🇲🇦
Population: 37,984,655
Nickname: The Atlas Lions
Appearances: 19th
Last Appearance: 2021
Coach: Walid Regragui (Morocco)
Best AFCON results: winners (1976)
Skipper: Romain Saiss
Player to watch: Achraf Hakimi
Region: UNAF
CAF Rankings: 1
FIFA Rankings: 13
Most caps: Nourredine Naybet (115)
Top Scorer: Ahmed Faras (36)
The number 1 ranked team on the continent by CAF, ranked as high as 13 by FIFA, The Atlas Lions are in the form of their lives as they head into the 2023 AFCON in full confidence.
Morocco shocked the world with their resilient performance and made history during the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar by reaching the semi-finals. They have continued their stellar performance after the World Cup by winning their 2013 AFCON qualifiers group.
In the opening game for the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers, Morocco won 2-0 in Dar es Salaam against Tanzania.
Walid Regragui’s final squad for the 2023 AFCON contains most of his best players during the 2022 World Cup and they are considered among the hot favourites for the 34th edition of the CAN.
In a group alongside Tanzania, DR Congo and Zambia, Morocco is expected to qualify for the knockout stage of the tournament as they remain one of the teams to beat in world football currently.
Expectations are high for Morocco because of how solid and difficult they are.
The Core of the Team
The 2022 FIFA World Cup spine is still around with Bonou expected to be the number 1.
Saiss and Aguerd will continue the strong partnership in defence with Achraf at right back.
Amraba, Ounahi and Amallah will form a solid partnership.
Ziyech and En-Nesyri will lead the attack.
Probable 11
4-3-3
Bounou
Hakimi, Aguerd, Saiss, Mazraoui
Amrabat, Amallah, Harit
Ziyech, En-Nesyri, Adli
Notable Legends
Ezzaki Badou, Mustapha Hadji, Walid Regragui, Salaheddine Basir, Ahmed Faras,
Mehdi Benatia, Nourredine Naybet, Larbi Benbarek, Abdelmajid Dolmy,
Expectations: Semi-finals
Fixtures
Morocco v Tanzania
Morocco v DR Congo
Zambia v Morocco
