Bibhash Lodh, BS News Agency: Morocco has exited the 2026 World Cup in the quarterfinals after losing 2-0 to France. However, despite this disappointment, the Atlas Lions are looking to the future. Because Morocco is one of the co-hosts of the 2030 World Cup, and their new plans are starting around that tournament. Morocco, which reached the semifinals in the Qatar World Cup, could not repeat that success this time. However, they made new history by becoming the first African team to reach the quarterfinals for the second consecutive time in the 48-team World Cup. In addition to eliminating the Netherlands in the tournament, Morocco also fought well against Brazil. Although the coach changed just three months before the start of the World Cup, Mohamed Wahabi has handled the team well. Morocco won the U-20 World Cup in 2025 under this successful coach in the age group. After losing to France, Wahabi said, "We have many young footballers in our team who will improve further. We want to build a stronger team for the future with talented players. ’
However, Morocco has two Africa Cup of Nations tournaments ahead of it before the 2030 World Cup. For now, Ohabi believes that succeeding in that test is the most important thing. He said, ‘First, we have to qualify for the Africa Cup and win the title. We have to build a team that can make people dream in the future and win titles regularly. ’
Morocco will play against Gabon, Lesotho and Niger in the Africa Cup qualifiers next September. However, according to Ohabi, to do something big in the 2030 World Cup, we need to gain experience playing regularly against strong teams outside Africa. He said, ‘The Africa Cup and the World Cup are not the same.
You have to face different types of opponents in the World Cup. If you don’t play against those types of teams regularly, you risk being eliminated very quickly in the World Cup. ’
