Neil Ward spent four years working inside Moroccan football — and he left convinced of one thing: "Morocco have the potential to be a powerhouse of world football."

The Welsh former director of technical operations at the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (RMFF) was in Rabat in 2022 when the Atlas Lions became the first African nation to reach a World Cup semi-final, losing 2-0 to France. He recalls the streets alive until the early hours of the morning, with even the king out celebrating in the crowd.

That historic run now serves as the foundation for something even bigger. Morocco are again facing France — this time at Boston Stadium — for a place in the last four at the current tournament, bidding to repeat and surpass the miracle of 2022.

A national project backed from the very top

Simon Jennings, who oversaw youth development across the country between 2020 and 2024, is equally emphatic about what is driving this progress. "This is not an accident," he said. "It's a result of clear national ambition."

That ambition flows directly from King Mohammed VI. Sustained royal backing has funded a state-of-the-art training facility, a national academy, regional training centres, stadium redevelopments, and thousands of amateur pitches across the country.

"You need those top facilities for players in Europe who are used to it," Ward explained. "When you come in and see a training facility of this calibre, it shows you these people are serious and want to be successful."

Youth protesters have called for such funds to be directed instead toward education, healthcare, housing, and job creation. In response, the royal palace pledged the equivalent of £11.2bn in its 2026 budget toward health and education — a 16 percent increase year-on-year.

For Ward, the football investment is also about soft power: tapping into national passion and proving Morocco can compete on the global stage.

Nineteen of 26 born outside Morocco

A central pillar of Morocco's model is its diaspora strategy. The country's ministry of foreign affairs estimates more than five million Moroccans live abroad, and the RMFF has deployed full-time scouts in France, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Denmark to identify and cultivate promising players with Moroccan roots from an early age.

Jennings says these players are "embraced as Moroccans" — not treated as recruits from elsewhere. "They have such an affinity with their own culture and nationality," he said. "You don't get a feeling that it's a second nation. They are totally into being Moroccan."

The numbers reflect this: 19 of the 26 members of Morocco's current World Cup squad were born outside the country. Six were also eligible to represent quarter-final opponents France, including highly rated Lille midfielder Ayyoub Bouaddi. The 18-year-old had represented Les Bleus throughout the youth age groups but ultimately chose Morocco, drawn by his heritage.

The RMFF even met with Lamine Yamal and his family while the Barcelona teenager — whose father is Moroccan — was still around 12 or 13 years old. He ultimately chose Spain. Ward is matter-of-fact about it: "No stone is left unturned when it comes to talent identification, even if it does not always come off."

Building from the ground up

The next challenge is producing more senior internationals through the domestic pipeline. Chris van Puyvelde, technical director at the RMFF between 2022 and 2025, says the target is to achieve an equal split between Morocco-born players and those raised abroad by the time Morocco co-hosts the 2030 World Cup alongside Portugal and Spain.

But he warns that the "total organisation inside the country needs to be better," and that there is a delicate balance between chasing short-term results and developing technical talent over time.

Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi experienced that tension directly. His under-20 side failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup in 2023, prompting pressure from the federation president to dismiss the coaching staff. Van Puyvelde pushed back, arguing for patience and structural support — and was proved right. Ouahbi's under-20s went on to win the Under-20 World Cup in 2025.

The senior African Nations Cup title also came to Morocco, albeit in unusual circumstances: after several Senegal players walked off the pitch in protest over a controversial penalty awarded to Morocco in stoppage time — a spot-kick later missed by Brahim Diaz — the trophy was awarded to the Atlas Lions, who had lost the final 1-0.

Ouahbi was promoted to senior team manager shortly after Regragui resigned. He has been handed a contract running until 2030, and Morocco's current World Cup squad ranks as the third youngest at the tournament, with an average starter age of 26 years and 126 days.

"They are building stadiums, but they are also building the structure from the ground up," Van Puyvelde said. "Once you get a little bit of oxygen, like Morocco did in Qatar in 2022, you see this oxygen is spreading very fast — all over the country."