Women’s AFCON (2nd day/Gr. A): Morocco Qualifies for Quarterfinals

Morocco’s national women’s soccer team has climbed one spot in the latest FIFA World Ranking, securing the 60th spot worldwide and the third position in Africa, according to a new ranking released on Thursday.

The Atlas Lionesses were 61st in the rankings published on December 13, 2024. The team moved up one spot to 60th and remains third in the African hierarchy, behind Nigeria (36th worldwide) and South Africa (54th).

Morocco gained 1.7 points, following its two friendly victories over Ghana and Haiti last February.

On the global stage, the United States are leading national women’s soccer teams, followed by Spain, Germany, and England, all of which maintained their spots from the last ranking.

Japan claimed the fifth spot after a three-point improvement, followed by Sweden, Canada, Brazil, North Korea, and the Netherlands.

Africa could be back in the spotlight this June, as four of its representatives—Chad, Eritrea, Libya, and Sudan—have just one official game left to play before they can join the ranking.

The first edition of the FIFA Women’s Ranking for 2025 has already broken a record, with 196 teams now in the global hierarchy. Djibouti (195th) appears in the ranking for the first time in its history.

The Moroccan under-20 women’s national team defeated Romania 4-2 on Wednesday during the third day of the Pink Ladies Cup at the Emirhan Sports Complex in Antalya, Turkey.

Goals were scored by Ghita Haouzi (2nd, 26th minutes), Ines Aboucharif (22nd), and Dina Haizoun (51st).

Earlier in the tournament, Morocco drew 1-1 with Turkey and lost 3-0 to Slovakia.

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.