Friday 11 October 2024

Friday 11 October 2024

Atlas Lionesses’ Feat Is Fruit of Moroccan Football Development – French Paper

Paris – The qualification of the Atlas Lionesses for the last 16 of the World Cup, taking place in Australia and New Zealand, is a feat made possible by the development of the discipline in the kingdom, writes the French daily “l’Humanité”.

Nearly eight months after Morocco’s historic qualification for the semi-finals of the World Cup in Qatar, the Moroccan women’s team’s qualification for the last 16 of the Women’s World Cup “proves that the structuring of Moroccan football is at the root of these achievements,” notes the French newspaper in an article published online on Monday.

The daily points out that, despite a poor start against Germany, the Moroccan women bounced back to claim their first ever victory (1-0) at a World Cup against South Korea (ranked 17th in the Fifa world rankings), before overcoming (1-0) Colombia (ranked 25th), who had also qualified for the Round of 16.

The Moroccan women, who led a fine run to the final of the last Africa Cup of Nations, where they were beaten 1-2 by South Africa in front of more than 50,000 spectators, have created a real popular craze in the country, as the author of the article points out.

“A dynamic made possible by the women’s football development plan put in place by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation since 2020, which has led to a real boom in the discipline. Two professional divisions were created in 2021, with 42 clubs receiving financial support from the federation. Within each club, a training center trains teams for the under-15 and under-17 age groups,” explains the paper.

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Morocco’s women football team has maintained its 59th place in the FIFA rankings published on Friday, and remains in the African top 3.

Absent from the last 2024 Olympic Games in Paris which factores in the FIFA rankings, the Atlas Lionesses still occupy third place at continental level, behind South Africa (50th) and Nigeria (36th).

Additionally, the U.S. team are back in the lead (+4) thanks to their victory at the Olympic Games, ahead of England (+1) and Spain who fell back to 3rd place.

The next FIFA ranking of women’s teams will be released on December 20.

Morocco will play in Group C at the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup, following the draw carried out on Wednesday in Bogotá.

Morocco will play reigning world champions Spain, joint-record champions USA and Paraguay in the World Cup, scheduled for August 31 to September 22 in Colombia.

Last January, the U20 women’s national football team achieved a historic qualification for the U20 World Cup.

Despite their defeat in the second-leg game of the final round of the African qualifiers against Ethiopia, the Moroccan team clinched their ticket to Colombia 2024 thanks their precious victory (2-0) in the first leg, at the Abdi El stadium in El Jadida.

Groups:

Group A: Colombia, Australia, Cameroon, Mexico

Group B: France, Canada, Brazil, Fiji

Group C: Spain, United States, Paraguay, Morocco

Group D: Germany, Venezuela, Nigeria, Republic of Korea

Group E: Japan, New Zealand, Ghana, Austria

Group F: North Korea, Argentina, Costa Rica, Netherlands

The Moroccan U-17 women’s football team has qualified for the final round of the African qualifiers for the 2024 World Cup, after a comprehensive 4-0 victory over its Algerian counterpart on Friday in Algiers, in the second leg of the third and penultimate round of the qualifiers.

Morocco’s goals were scored by C.Boughazi (6th), L.M.Jamai (62nd, 79th) and D.Haizoun (76th).

In the first leg, the Moroccan team won 4-0.

The African teams qualifying for the U-17 Women’s World Cup will be announced at the end of the fourth and final round in June.

The U-17 Women’s World Cup 2024 is scheduled to take place from October 16 to November 3 in the Dominican Republic.
 

Morocco women’s national football team trashed, here Wednesday, Tunisia 4-1, in the second leg of the third and penultimate preliminary round of the 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers.

Fatima Tagnaout (11th) and Ibtissam Jraidi (16th, 20th and 22nd) scored for the Atlas Lionesses, while Salma Zemzem (58th) scored the only goal for the Tunisians.

In the first leg, held last Friday in Tunis, Morocco bested Tunisia 2-1.

During the fourth and final round of 2024 Olympic Games qualifiers, Morocco will play Zambia to clinch their ticket for the 2024 Olympics as one of the two representatives of Africa.

Morocco U-17 women’s football team trashed Nigeria 11-0, Monday at the Berkane municipal stadium, in the first leg of the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers (Africa zone).

Moroccan goals were scored by Ouafae Bentahri (19th), Salma Senhaji (26th), Awatif El Ghazouani (31st), Lina Jamai Mokhtari (32nd, 34th, 42nd, 45th+1, 90th+4), Ines Aboucharif (51st), Siham Bouhouch (55th) and Sara Dofry (90th).

The second-leg game will take place on Friday at the Berkane municipal stadium.

Morocco’s U20 women’s football team qualified for the FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup 2024 in Colombia, despite losing (0-1) to its Ethiopian counterpart on Sunday at the Abebe Bikila stadium in Addis Ababa, in the second leg of the fourth and final round of African qualifiers for the World Cup, scheduled for August 31 to September 22.

Morocco beat Ethiopia 2-0 in the first leg, played last Saturday at the El Abdi stadium in El Jadida.

This is the first World Cup qualification for the national U20 women’s team.