This new year, Morocco is preparing to open a new chapter in its sporting history. The opportunity to take stock of the previous one, marked by several successes, but also failures. Here are the highlights of national sport in 2024. Records in Botola Pro The 2023-2024 Botola Pro D1 season was rich in records, something that the national championship had not seen for several years. Two clubs stood out: Raja and AS FAR. The Raja of Casablanca finished the season in the most beautiful way. Led by German Josef Zinnbauer, the Greens were crowned champions by not conceding a single defeat throughout the campaign. A historic first. The club made its mark despite an unconvincing start to the season, accompanied by legal problems for its former president Mohamed Boudrika. As for AS FAR, which lost the title race one day before the end of Botola, behind Raja, it broke an important record. Under the leadership of Tunisian Nasreddine Nabi, the Military, after having dominated almost the entire season, found the opposing net 65 times, the record for goals scored in a single season. Thanks to this tough competition which continued until the last days of the championship, the two clubs presented a very high level of football, keeping the public in suspense until the end. The Lion Cubs enter the history of the Olympics, receiving the Morocco jo2024 medal (2) Moroccan players receiving the bronze medal in the 2024 Olympic men’s football tournament. Credit: DR Taking inspiration from their elders in 2022, the Atlas Lion Cubs achieved an unprecedented feat at the Paris Olympics football tournament. After a resounding entry against Argentina (2-1 victory), Tarik Sektioui’s team, reinforced by Achraf Hakimi, Soufiane Rahimi and Munir Mohamedi, led an impressive campaign, before falling in the semi-final against Spain (1-2). In the bronze medal match, Hakimi and his teammates simply disposed of Egypt (6-0), winning the Kingdom’s first medal in the Olympic football tournament. Soufiane Rahimi was crowned top scorer in the competition with 8 goals, far ahead of his pursuers. Above all, the striker became the first player in history to score in six consecutive Olympic matches. El Bakkali, the confirmation of king Bakkali Tetouan King Mohammed VI receives, at the Royal Palace in Tetouan, the athlete Soufiane El Bakkali, gold medalist in the men’s 3,000 m steeplechase during the 2024 Olympic Games. (MAP Photo) After his first Olympic gold medal in Tokyo, Soufiane El Bakkali achieved an extremely rare feat in Paris. The native of Fez has indeed become the first athlete to win two gold medals in the 3,000m steeplechase in almost nine decades! Before him, only the Finn Volmari Iso-Hollo achieved this in 1932 and 1936. The Moroccan, who also won the only Moroccan gold medal at these 2024 Olympics, inscribed his name in golden letters in the history of national and world sport. The feat of Hicham Dguig and his Lions Futsal World Cup: Morocco eliminated in the quarter-final after its defeat against Brazil (3-1) © DR Last year, Hicham Dguig and his men won, in front of their home crowd, the African Futsal Cup of Nations for the third time in a row against Angola (5-1). The Atlas Lions, who scored no fewer than 37 goals in the competition, qualified for the World Cup in Uzbekistan a few months later. At the World Cup, the Moroccans reached the quarter-finals. But they were eliminated by Brazil who also won the competition. n. This was the second consecutive time that Morocco reached this stage of the Futsal World Cup. Women’s LdC: Lamia Boumehdi champion and AS FAR finalist once again as far women’s ldc The AS FAR women’s team. ©DR During the fourth edition of the CAF Women’s Champions League, AS FAR players reached the final for the second time in the club’s history. But the Soldiers of Mohamed Amine Alioua were unable to overcome TP Mazembe coached by Moroccan Lamia Boumehdi. At the end of a thrilling match at the El Abdi Stadium in El Jadida, AS FAR fell with a score of 0-1. After just one year at the head of TP Mazembe, Boumehdi won the most prestigious interclub competition on the continent. Nevertheless, Sanaa Mssoudy and Doha El Madani of AS FAR were crowned respectively best player and best scorer of the competition. As for Boumehdi, she will end up voted best women’s football coach of the year at the CAF Awards in Marrakech. CAN 2023: the debacle The year 2024 also had its share of failures. We can notably cite the African campaign of the Atlas Lions, in Ivory Coast. After the epic World Cup, Moroccan supporters expected a successful African Cup of Nations from Walid Regragui, but the disappointment was very heavy. With 7 points (2 wins and a draw), the Atlas Lions finished leader of their group. But in the round of 16, things got tough for them. Facing South Africa, the national selection was completely tactically overthrown (0-2), thus leaving the African adventure prematurely. After this debacle, the national coach was singled out by supporters as well as football experts. But he found support from the head of the FRMF Fouzi Lekjaa, who renewed his confidence in him. Obtaining the organization of the 2030 World Cup gianni infantino Mondial2030 FIFA President Gianni Infantino announces the official designation of the Morocco-Spain-Portugal trio for the organization of the 2030 World Cup. ©DR During the month of December 2024, Morocco was officially designated, with Spain and Portugal, to organize the centenary edition of the 2030 World Cup. A nice end gift of year. But the Kingdom had already started its major projects to host this meeting, after King Mohammed VI announced in October 2023 that the FIFA Council unanimously selected the YallaVamos file as the sole candidacy for the organization of the 2030 World Cup. Several stadiums in the Kingdom are currently under renovation while others have been completely razed to be rebuilt from scratch, like the Moulay Abdellah Stadium in Rabat. Among its gigantic projects, there is notably the future Hassan II stadium, candidate to host the World Cup final. With a capacity of 115,000 seats, it is billed as the largest football stadium in the world.
