Morocco defied all expectations 36 years later, topping their group containing Croatia, Canada and Belgium, and then beat Spain and Portugal to become the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.

These associations of settler clubs and local footballers, in addition to having their own championship, clashed with each other in a tournament that Morocco won several times, such as in 1948–1949.

On 7 October 1954, the French Football Association and the Maghreb inhabitants organized a charity match to raise funds for the families of the victims of the earthquake.

In the match, held at the Parc de Princes in Paris, a team made up of Moroccans, Algerians and Tunisians played against France.

On 19 October 1957, at the second edition of the Arab Games in Lebanon, Morocco made its debut as an independent country against Iraq, at the Camille Chamoun Sports City Stadium, and drew 3–3.

[7] Between 1957 and 1958, Morocco held numerous friendly matches against the National Liberation Front team, the representative of Algeria before its independence in 1958.

In 1963, the Moroccan team came close to qualifying for the African Cup of Nations; in the decisive play-off against Tunisia, they were defeated 4–1 in Tunis and won 4–2 at home, therefore being eliminated.

Having qualified under the leadership of manager Mohamed Massoun, the Moroccans were included in a group of three teams due to the withdrawal of North Korea.

Morocco lost both their matches, against Hungary (6–0, the team's worst-ever defeat) and Yugoslavia (3–1, despite taking the lead in the second minute via Ali Bouachra).

Shortly after, Morocco lost the decisive play-off against Algeria to enter the final stage of the 1970 Africa Cup of Nations.

They then went to Zaire for their third game but lost 3–0, conceding all three goals in the second half, with Faras leaving the field due to injury.

Morocco, coached by the Romanian Virgil Mărdărescu and captained by Faras, took the continental throne at 1976 African Cup of Nations, in only the country's second participation in the competition.

Morocco qualified for the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, and topped a group consisting Portugal, England and Poland, thanks to two draws against the English and Polish[16] and a 3–1 win against the Portuguese.

[17] However, they were narrowly eliminated by West Germany in the first knockout round, thanks to a goal from Lothar Matthäus one minute from the end of regulation time.

After winning in the first round, they were eliminated in the semifinals by Cameroon and finished in fourth place after losing the third-place play-off against Algeria 1–1 after extra time, 4–3 after penalties.

Morocco qualified to the knockout stages, facing Algeria; they eventually won 3–1 in extra time,[23] and 4–0 against Mali in the semi-final.

[25] In 2012, the national team won the Arab Cup, topping their group, defeating Iraq in the semi-final and Libya in the final.

[33] In their opening game against Iran, Morocco showed full dedication but lost 1–0 in the final minutes of the match, scored by an own goal.

Captained by Ayoub El Kaabi, they defeated Togo (1–0),[42] Rwanda (0–0),[43] the Uganda (5–2),[44] Zambia (3–1),[45] and Cameroon (4–0)[46] on the way to a final against Mali in Yaoundé.

Morocco won 2–0, with both goals scored late into the second half by Soufiane Bouftini and Ayoub El Kaabi.

[49] In December 2021, Morocco started its venture at the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup's Group C, along with Jordan, Palestine and Saudi Arabia.

[53] After easily topping their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification group which consisted of Mauritania, Burundi, and Central African Republic, Morocco entered the tournament in Cameroon.

After holding previous runners-up Croatia to a 0–0 draw and defeating Belgium 2–0, a 2–1 win over Canada meant they finished top of the group and advanced to the round of 16 for the first time since 1986.

[69] They played Croatia in the third place play-off on 17 December at the Khalifa International Stadium in Al-Rayyan, a rematch of the earlier group stage meeting.

[71] The team would go on to donate their entire World Cup earnings from the tournament to charities within Morocco that help with poverty that affects children and families in the country.

The stadium is considered to bring luck to the Moroccan team; they won several matches there in front of a large audience, including a 4–0 victory against Algeria in qualification for the 2012 Africa Cup of Nations.

[73] During Ezzaki Badou's tenure as coach from 2014 to 2016, Morocco played most of its matches at the Adrar stadium in Agadir,[74][75] which has a capacity of 45,480.

Win Draw Loss Fixture The following players were called up for 2025 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Gabon and Lesotho, on 15 and 18 November 2024 respectively.