Sports in Morocco refers to the sports played in the

Kingdom of Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

. As of 2007, Moroccan society participated in many sports, including

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball or Olympic handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of throwing it into the ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping wi ...

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball cov ...

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

, and

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competi ...

Hicham El Guerrouj Hicham El Guerrouj ( ar, هشام الݣروج, Hishām l-Garrūj; ber, ⵀⵉⵛⴰⵎ ⴻⵍ ⴳⴻⵔⵔⵓⵊ, Hisham El Gerruj; born 14 September 1974) is a retired Moroccan middle-distance runner. El Guerrouj is the current world record h ...

, a retired middle distance runner for Morocco, won two gold medals for Morocco at the Athletics at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

has historically been particularly popular amongst persons of African descent and is Morocco's most popular sport. Other popular sports include:

Futsal Futsal is a football-based game played on a hard court smaller than a football pitch, and mainly indoors. It has similarities to five-a-side football and indoor football. Futsal is played between two teams of five players each, one of whom is ...

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

swimming Swimming is the self-propulsion of a person through water, or other liquid, usually for recreation, sport, exercise, or survival. Locomotion is achieved through coordinated movement of the limbs and the body to achieve hydrodynamic thrust that r ...

surfing Surfing is a surface water sport in which an individual, a surfer (or two in tandem surfing), uses a board to ride on the forward section, or face, of a moving wave of water, which usually carries the surfer towards the shore. Waves suitable ...

and

Ministry of Youth and Sports

The Moroccan Ministry of Youth and Sports was founded in August 1964 and houses all the sporting federations in the country. Despite the Ministry's mission to engage young people in sporting opportunities, many Moroccan athletes denounce the institution as not giving young Moroccans enough sponsorship or opportunities to play sports professionally.

Host of events

Morocco had vied many times for hosting the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament has ...

, mostly notably losing to Canada/Mexico/United States in 2026 to be the first by three countries to host the tournament. Morocco hosted the

2019 African Games The 12th African Games was held from 19 to 31 August 2019 in Rabat, Morocco. This was the first time that the African Games were hosted by Morocco following the country's readmission to the African Union in January 2017. Bidding process The 12th ...

in Rabat; it was the first time that the country hosted the event. It was the largest African Games ever and the largest sporting event to be hosted by Morocco. In 2019, it was announced that Morocco would host the inaugural African Para Games in Rabat in January 2020. however, due to poor relations between the Africa Paralympic Committee and the country's authorities, Morocco withdrew and the event took place in

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metr ...

, Egypt. Morocco has hosted many international events such as the

1988 African Cup of Nations The 1988 African Cup of Nations was the 16th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the soccer championship of Africa ( CAF). It was hosted by Morocco, who replaced original host Zambia. Just like in 1986, the field of eight teams was split into tw ...

, 2013 FIFA Club World Cup, 2014 FIFA Club World Cup,

2018 African Nations Championship The 2018 African Nations Championship, known as the Total African Nations Championship (also referred to as CHAN 2018) was the 5th edition of the African Nations Championship, a biennial football tournament organized by the Confederation of Afric ...

, 2022 Women's Africa Cup of Nations,

2022 FIFA Club World Cup The 2022 FIFA Club World Cup will be the 19th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament between the winners of the six continental confederations, as well as the host nation's league champions ...

and the 2024 Women's Africa Cup of Nations. Most of the events hosted are football related since it is the most popular sport in the country. Other events hosted include: *

1961 Pan Arab Games The 3rd Pan Arab Games were held in Casablanca, Morocco between 24 August and 8 September 1961. 1127 athletes from 9 countries participated in events in 11 sports. Sports *Athletics *Basketball *Boxing *Football *Gymnastics (artistic) *Handball * ...

1983 Mediterranean Games The IX Mediterranean Games ( ar, ألعاب البحر الأبيض المتوسط 1983), commonly known as the 1983 Mediterranean Games, were the 9th Mediterranean Games. The Games were held in Casablanca, Morocco, from 3 to 17 September 1983 ...

* 1983 Palestine Cup of Nations for Youth * 1985 Pan Arab Games *

1997 African Youth Championship The African Youth Championship 1997 was held in Morocco. It also served as qualification for the 1997 FIFA World Youth Championship. Qualification Morocco qualified automatically as hosts. First round 28/29 Sep 1996: Algeria ...

2011 CAF Beach Soccer Championship The 2011 CAF Beach Soccer Championship were the qualifiers for African national beach soccer teams to determine the two teams that qualify for the 2011 FIFA Beach Soccer World Cup. They took place from 15–19 June 2011 at a temporary stadium at ...

* 2011 African U-23 Championship * 2011 Arab Cup U-20 *

2013 CAF Beach Soccer Championship The 2013 CAF Beach Soccer Championship took place from 22 May to 26 May 2013, in El Jadida, Morocco, for the first time. It is the second time in Morocco, following Casablanca hosting the previous qualification tournament in 2011. It was origi ...

2013 African U-17 Championship The 2013 African U-17 Championship was a football competition organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF). The tournament took place in Morocco from 13 to 27 April. The top four teams qualified for the 2013 FIFA U-17 World Cup. Quali ...

* 2020 Africa Futsal Cup of Nations * 2023 U-23 Africa Cup of Nations

By Sport

Football

The

Royal Moroccan Football Federation The Royal Moroccan Football Federation ( ar, الجامعة الملكية المغربية لكرة القدم), (french: Fédérarion Royale marocaine de football) is the governing body of football in Morocco. It was established in 1956. It beca ...

based in Rabat is the governing body of football in Morocco. Morocco qualified for the

six times and bid for the World Cups

1994 File:1994 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 1994 Winter Olympics are held in Lillehammer, Norway; The Kaiser Permanente building after the 1994 Northridge earthquake; A model of the MS Estonia, which sank in the Baltic Sea; Nels ...

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

and 2026 but lost out to

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring coun ...

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

Mexico Mexico (Spanish language, Spanish: México), officially the United Mexican States, is a List of sovereign states, country in the southern portion of North America. It is borders of Mexico, bordered to the north by the United States; to the so ...

in these bids. Morocco is now co-bidding for the 2030 with either

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of th ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

. *

Morocco national football team The Morocco national football team,french: Équipe du Maroc de football nicknamed "the Atlas Lions", represents Morocco in men's international football competitions. It is controlled by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, also known as F ...

Morocco national under-23 football team The Morocco Olympic football team represents Morocco in international football competitions in Olympic Games. The selection is limited to players under the age of 23, except three overage players. The team is controlled by the Fédération Roya ...

* Morocco national under-20 football team * Morocco women's national football team *

Botola The Botola Pro ( ar, البطولة الاحترافية, translit=al-buṭūla l-iḥtirāfiyya), is a Moroccan professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the Moroccan football league system, it is the country's prim ...

Botola 2 Botola Pro 2, commonly known as Botola 2 (formerly known before as the ''Groupement National de Football 2''), is the second division of the Moroccan football league, behind the Botola, the highest football league in Morocco. It features 16 teams ...

* National

Botola

The "Botola" Pro is the top league competition for

clubs in

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to A ...

. Each season 16 teams compete for the championship. Champion and runner-up participate in the

African Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and cont ...

. The most successful clubs in the league are: AS FAR, and Wydad Casablanca, and

Raja Casablanca Raja Club Athletic ( ar, نادي الرجاء الرياضي, Nādī ar-Rajāʾ ar-Riyāḍī, zgh, ⴰⵙⵔⵉⵔ ⵏ ⵕⴰⵊⴰ ⴰⵎⴰⵏⵓⵏ), commonly referred to as Raja CA, Raja Casablanca or simply RCA is a professional footb ...

. The Moroccan top-flight has produced the second-highest number of

CAF Champions League The CAF Champions League, known for sponsorship purposes as the TotalEnergies CAF Champions League and formerly the African Cup of Champions Clubs, is an annual football club competition organized by the Confederation of African Football and con ...

titles, with three Moroccan clubs having won seven African trophies in total. They also produced the highest number of

CAF Confederation Cup The CAF Confederation Cup, known as the TotalEnergies CAF Confederation Cup for sponsorship purposes, is an annual association football club competition established in 2004 from a merger of the CAF Cup and the African Cup Winners' Cup and organi ...

titles, with five Moroccan clubs having won seven African confederation trophies.

Futsal

Morocco's popularity for Futsal has risen over the years due to its similarity to

. Morocco national futsal team is a major force in the

Africa Africa is the world's second-largest and second-most populous continent, after Asia in both cases. At about 30.3 million km2 (11.7 million square miles) including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of Earth's total surface area ...

n and

Arab world The Arab world ( ar, اَلْعَالَمُ الْعَرَبِيُّ '), formally the Arab homeland ( '), also known as the Arab nation ( '), the Arabsphere, or the Arab states, refers to a vast group of countries, mainly located in Western A ...

. They hosted the 2020 Africa Futsal Cup of Nations. Their first major trophy came in

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

, after defeating

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a List of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country spanning the North Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via a land bridg ...

in the final. They have won the Africa Futsal Cup of Nations twice. They also won the Arab Futsal Cup twice. Morocco qualified for the FIFA Futsal World Cup three times, Their best performance was in

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October 2021 coup in Sudan; Crowd shortly after t ...

, where they reached the round of 16. Morocco is the only African and Arab country to have won the

Futsal Confederations Cup The Futsal Confederations Cup is a futsal tournament for national teams. It is contested by the winners of each of the six FIFA confederation championships ( AFC, CAF, CONCACAF, CONMEBOL, UEFA, OFC), the winner of the FIFA Futsal World Cup and ...

Kickboxing

Morocco is known for having great Kickboxing fighters, Badr Hari is considered to be one of the best Kickboxer in the world.

Equestrian sports

Morocco has a vibrant equestrian sports community headed by the Royal Moroccan Equestrian Federation. Morocco's most famous equestrian, Abdelkebir Ouaddar, represented the country in the 2014 Normandy World Equestrian Games and 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

Motorsport

Moroccan Grand Prix The Moroccan Grand Prix (Arabic: سباق الجائزة الكبرى المغربي) was a Grand Prix first organised in 1925 in Casablanca, Morocco with the official denomination of "Casablanca Grand Prix". History In 1930, the race was held ...

(Formula One, sports car, and touring car racing) * Marrakech Street Circuit (World Touring Car Championship) * Miss Moto Maroc (all female motorcycle club in Morocco)

Mehdi Bennani Mehdi Bennani ( ar, مهدي بناني, born 25 August 1983) is a Moroccan racing driver who currently competes in the TCR Europe with Sébastien Loeb Racing. He was TCR Europe Champion in 2020 with the Belgian team Comtoyou Racing. He bec ...

is Morocco's most notable racing driver. He has competed in the World Touring Car Championship since 2009, where he has scored a number of top three finishes. In 2014 he scored his first WTCC win at the championship's Shanghai round.

Cricket

Morocco national cricket team The Moroccan national cricket team was the team that represented the Kingdom of Morocco in international cricket. The team is operated by Federation Royale Marocaine De Cricket. In April 2018, the ICC decided to grant full Twenty20 Internation ...

Morocco hosted the 2002 Morocco Cup, which was well attended. Sri Lanka beat South Africa in the final. Morocco boasts an ICC approved ground capable of hosting full internationals, the National Cricket Stadium in Tangier. It has so far hosted a

One Day International A One Day International (ODI) is a form of limited overs cricket, played between two teams with international status, in which each team faces a fixed number of overs, currently 50, with the game lasting up to 9 hours. The Cricket World C ...

triangular tournament, the Morocco Cup in 2002, where Sri Lanka won ahead of South Africa and Pakistan.

Basketball

Morocco, represented by the Moroccan Royal Basketball Federation, has been affiliated to

FIBA The International Basketball Federation (FIBA ; French: ) is an association of national organizations which governs the sport of basketball worldwide. Originally known as the (hence FIBA), in 1989 it dropped the word ''amateur'' from its nam ...

since 1936. The men's national team has won a FIBA Africa Championship title, won in

1965 Events January–February * January 14 – The Prime Minister of Northern Ireland and the Taoiseach of the Republic of Ireland meet for the first time in 43 years. * January 20 ** Lyndon B. Johnson is sworn in for a full term ...

. The professional national league is Nationale 1.

Women's volleyball

Morocco has a successful women's national volleyball team which lastly qualified for the

2021 Women's African Nations Volleyball Championship The 2021 Women's African Nations Volleyball Championship is the 20th edition of the Women's African Volleyball Championship, a biennial international volleyball tournament organised by the African Volleyball Confederation (CAVB) with Rwanda Vol ...

where it won the bronze medal.

Rugby union

Rugby union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In it ...

came to Morocco in the early 20th century, mainly by the French who occupied the country.Bath, Richard (ed.) The Complete Book of Rugby (Seven Oaks Ltd, 1997 ) p71 As a result, Moroccan rugby was tied to the fortunes of France, during the first and second

World War A world war is an international conflict which involves all or most of the world's major powers. Conventionally, the term is reserved for two major international conflicts that occurred during the first half of the 20th century, World WarI (1914 ...

, with many Moroccan players going away to fight. Like many other

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

nations, Moroccan rugby tended to look to Europe for inspiration, rather than to the rest of Africa. Notable Moroccan players include: * Abdelatif Benazzi * Said Boucha *

Abdellatif Boutaty Abdellatif Boutaty (born 4 June 1983) is a former Moroccan rugby union footballer. He played as a lock. He was nicknamed "The Tiger of Atlas" (''Le Tigre de l'Atlas''). Club career Boutaty played for the Moroccan amateur team of COC, in Casablan ...

* Rachid Karmouchi *

Djalil Narjissi Djalil Narjissi ( ar, دجاليل نرجسي; born 18 January 1980) is a Moroccan rugby union footballer who currently plays in the Top 14, for Agen. He joined Agen in 2004, having previously played for Castres. Narjissi is also the captain of t ...

Ice Hockey

Morocco was admitted into the

International Ice Hockey Federation The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF; french: Fédération internationale de hockey sur glace; german: Internationale Eishockey-Föderation) is a worldwide governing body for ice hockey. It is based in Zurich, Switzerland, and has 83 ...

on May 22, 2010.

Stadiums

* Stade d'Agadir * Stade Cheikh Laaghdef * Stade Complexe Sportif * Stade d'Honneur * Stade Larbi Zaouli * Stade Mohammed V *

Stade Moulay Abdellah Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium ( ar, المجمع الرياضي الأمير مولاي عبد الله) is a multi-purpose stadium in Rabat, Morocco. It is named after Prince Moulay Abdellah of Morocco. It was built in 1983 and is the home gro ...

Stade de Tanger Ibn Batouta Stadium ( Berber: ⴰⵏⵏⴰⵔ ⵏ ⵉⴱⵏ ⴱⴰⵜⵓⵜⴰ, ar, ملعب ابن بطوطة) is a multi-use stadium in Tangier, Morocco. It is used mostly for football matches and big events such as ceremonies or concerts. T ...

Stade de Marrakech Marrakesh Stadium ( ar, ملعب مراكش, Berber: Annar n Mrraksh) is a multi-use stadium in Marrakesh, Morocco. It was designed by Gregotti Associati International. Completed in January 2012, it is used mostly for football matches with the c ...

* Complexe OCP * Saniat Rmel *

Stade Al Inbiaâte Stade Al Inbiaâte is a multi-use stadium in Agadir, Morocco. It is currently used mostly for football matches and hosts the home games of Hassania Agadir. The stadium can hold up to 10,000 people. History The stadium was constructed in ...

Stade El Abdi Ben M'Hamed El Abdi Stadium is a multi-use stadium in El Jadida, Morocco. It is currently used mostly for football matches and hosts the home games of Difaa El Jadida. The stadium holds 15,000 people. It was named in honor of Ben M’Hamed E ...

* Stade El Harti * Stade El Massira * Stade Marche Verte *

Stade Municipal (Kenitra) Kenitra Municipal Stadium is a multi-purpose stadium in Kenitra, Morocco which has been inaugurated in 1941. It is currently used mostly for football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to ...

* Stade Sidi Bernoussi * Stade d'Honneur (Meknes) *

Stade de Marchan Stade de Marchan is a multi-use stadium in Tangier, Morocco. It is used mostly for football matches and used to be the home ground of IR Tanger. The stadium holds 14,000 people. It was however replaced by Stade de Tanger after the latter's c ...

* Stade du 20 Août * Complexe Al Amal de Casablanca

References

{{Sport in Africa