Governing Bodies
King Mohammed VI hailed for Morocco’s Atlas Lions’ growing status
BY MTHOKOZIS DUBE
In 2009, King Mohammed VI officially opened the crown jewel of Morocco’s football investment – the Mohamed VI Football Complex – just outside Rabat.
The centre likened to the Clairefontaine in France or St George’s Park in England, was the beginning of an overhaul of the North African nation’s football structure.
The vision of HM King Mohammed VI, implemented daily by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation [FRMF], was to develop the next generation of footballers.
That investment, worth over US$15 million, has begun to pay off.
Top players like Nayef Aguerd, a centre-back for Premier League club West Ham United, and Sevilla forward Youssef En-Nesryi came through the Mohamed VI Complex academy.
“For us, at the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, it’s been about implementing the vision of His Majesty King Mohammed VI,” said special representative of the FRMF Omar Khayri.
The state-of-the-art national training centre contains four five-star hotels, eight FIFA standard pitches – one of which is indoor in a climate-controlled building – and a medical facility that includes a dentist.
Without a doubt, the success of the Atlas Lions at the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar remains Africa’s best story in world football in recent times, but it is certainly not the result of luck and grit.
It is a result of clarity of vision coupled with expertise and planning. That is evidenced by the fact that the country’s clubs hold the men’s and women’s African Champions League titles.
They also won the men’s Confederations Cup, cementing their dominance in continental club football.
Morocco are also a previous winner of the African Nations Championship [CHAN], the continental tournament that exclusively features players who play domestically.
In the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, they finished second after losing to South Africa in the final of the 2022 edition. They have qualified for their first FIFA World Cup.
At the weekend, Morocco’s 2-1 win over Brazil in an international friendly further underlined the North African country’s growing status as a heavyweight in African football.
It was their first-ever win over the Samba Boys, and Khyari has credited HM King Mohammed VI’s massive investment for the success.
In a match where both teams paid tribute to football legend Pele who died in December 2022, Soufiane Boufal and Abdelhamid Sbiri struck on either side of the half to send wild celebrations across Morocco.
Manchester United’s talisman Casemiro scored Brazil’s goal in Tangier, a city in north-western Morocco on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.
Before the massive win on Saturday, Morocco had suffered defeats in their only two other meetings. A 2-0 loss in a friendly in 1997 and a 3-0 loss in the group stage of the 1998 World Cup.
The 2-1 victory over Brazil came in a week when they became the first African nation to qualify for the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations. This was after Liberia held South Africa to a disappointing 2-2 draw at home.
Having beaten both Bafana Bafana and the Lone Stars in the three-team group, the Atlas Lions are guaranteed a place at the AFCON in Ivory Coast next January.
The victory over the five-time world champions, Brazil proves their 2022 Qatar World Cup heroics were not a fluke. The North African giants beat a Ronaldo-led Portugal 1-0 last year to become the first African team to reach the semi-finals of the World Cup.
National team coach Walid Regragui and his revered South African counterpart Pitso Mosimane are on record as crediting King Mohammed VI’s grand vision for the success of Moroccan football.
“HM King Mohammed VI has put a lot of means to advance soccer in Morocco,” Regragui said at the World Cup.
“That facility was built by the Government,” the three-time CAF Champions League winner, Mosimane, said after touring the facility.
Khayri added that the victory over mighty Brazil proves that the King’s foresight and great vision to develop football is bearing fruit.
“The King has been leading sports development from the front, and the win today is a result of his hard work and great plans not just for football but all sports. Beating Brazil is an immense pride moment for Morocco,” Khyari said.
The FRMF has also begun investing in women’s football, developing football in schools and clubs, and creating a national league structure.
In fact, Morocco is the only nation in the world to have two tiers of women’s football that are both fully professional.
“Remember, the King’s vision has also uplifted women’s football. Besides reaching the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations final last year and going to our first World Cup later this year, our Futsal team won the 2020 Africa Cup of Nations. This is all because HM King Mohammed VI has put in a lot of means to support the development of sport in the country,” said Khyari.
He believes the Atlas Lions have closed the gap between Africa and the best football-playing countries in the world.
FIFA has started disciplinary proceedings against the Spanish soccer federation (RFEF) over Islamophobic and xenophobic chants during a friendly between Spain and Egypt on March 31, the global soccer body said on Tuesday.
At the RCDE Stadium near Barcelona, the home ground of LaLiga club Espanyol, Spanish supporters chanted “who doesn’t jump is a Muslim” during the World Cup warm-up match, which ended in a goalless draw.
“FIFA has opened disciplinary proceedings today against the Spanish FA for the incidents in the friendly against Egypt,” FIFA said in a statement.
Spanish police launched an investigation into the chants last week.
Spain winger Lamine Yamal condemned the chants as disrespectful and intolerable in an Instagram post.
The Egyptian Football Association also condemned the chants as an entirely unacceptable “repugnant act of racism,” and added that the acts of a small group of spectators would not affect the close relations between the Spanish and Egyptian federations.
-Reuters
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The newly appointed Acting General Secretary of the Confederation of African Football, Samson Adamu, has declared his ambition to leave a lasting legacy as he assumes one of the most influential administrative roles in African football.
Adamu was named to the position on Sunday, March 29, 2026, during a CAF Executive Committee meeting held at the Giza Palace Hotel in Cairo. His appointment, proposed by CAF President Patrice Motsepe, received unanimous ratification from the committee.
Speaking shortly after his elevation, Adamu expressed both gratitude and determination. “I am elated by this appointment. I am determined to serve African football with humility, integrity, and professionalism,” he said.
His emergence is historic, as he becomes the first Nigerian—and indeed the first West African—to occupy the position in the 69-year history of CAF, a development widely seen as a significant milestone for the region’s growing influence within continental football governance.
Adamu’s journey to the summit of African football administration reflects a career shaped by innovation, passion, and administrative excellence. Fifteen years ago, he initiated the globally acclaimed COPA Lagos Beach Soccer tournament in Nigeria’s commercial capital, Lagos. The event attracted top teams from around the world and set new benchmarks in organisation, marketing, officiating, and fan engagement.
The success of COPA Lagos played a pivotal role in Nigeria earning the hosting rights for the 2016 CAF Beach Soccer Cup of Nations, further cementing Adamu’s reputation as a forward-thinking sports administrator.
He later joined CAF in Cairo, rising through the ranks from Director of Competitions to Director of Tournaments and Events, positions in which he oversaw the planning and execution of several major continental championships.
Adamu also carries a rich administrative lineage. He is the son of Amos Adamu, a towering figure in Nigerian and international sports administration. Dr Adamu served as sole administrator of the then Nigeria Football Association in the early 1990s and later as Director of Sports Development in the Federal Ministry of Youth and Sports.
He was also a central figure in Nigeria’s hosting of the 8th All-Africa Games in 2003, after securing a seat on the CAF Executive Committee in 2002 in Bamako, Mali, and earning re-election during the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations in Tunisia. His influence extended globally when he was elected into the FIFA Executive Committee in 2006, alongside serving as Director General of the National Sports Commission.
With such a formidable background and personal track record, expectations are high that Samson Adamu will bring fresh ideas, administrative stability, and a renewed sense of purpose to CAF’s operations at a time when African football is seeking greater credibility, growth, and global competitiveness.
His tenure, though currently in an acting capacity, is already being closely watched as a potential turning point in the evolution of football governance on the continent.
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Canadian soccer took centre stage in a FIFA experiment on Saturday as the country’s top-flight league began testing a “daylight” offside rule aimed at speeding up play and encouraging attacking football.
The rule was introduced at the opening match of the Canadian Premier League season as part of efforts by global soccer authorities to cut delays caused by video reviews, reduce controversy over marginal offside decisions and shift the balance of the game in favour of attackers.
“I see this as an opportunity to grow as a coach. It’s going to give me more tools for the future,” Atletico Ottawa head coach Diego Mejia told reporters.
Under the rule, an attacker is deemed onside if any part of the body that can legally score is level with, or further away from, the goal line than the second-to-last defender. An offside offence is only given if there is visible space — the so‑called “daylight” — between the attacker and the defender.
The concept has been championed for years by former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger, now FIFA’s chief of global football development, as a way to ease frustration over marginal decisions and limit delays that have fueled debate long after matches have finished.
Wenger called the Canadian experience “an important pilot.”
Players from reigning champions Atletico Ottawa and Forge FC were involved in the first application of the new rule on Saturday, including a video review triggered after a penalty award was challenged by the defending side.
Under the revised Canadian system, head coaches are allowed two challenges per match for game‑changing decisions, with the referee reviewing each appeal using video assistance.
The initial review took more than five minutes but was not centred on an offside decision, as officials assessed two possible offsides, a potential foul in the buildup and a collision between the goalkeeper and the striker that led to the penalty.
The challenge was unsuccessful.
A later offside decision using the daylight rule did not interrupt the flow of the match.
Video assistance itself is also new to the Canadian league and was used for the first time on Saturday. Some commentators said officials would need time to adapt to both the revised offside interpretation and the new technology. The system in use is not full VAR, but FIFA’s lighter Football Video Support (FVS) model.
The Canadian league’s willingness to adopt the rule has given FIFA a professional testing ground, something European leagues have so far resisted.
Critics argue the change could push defenders, particularly centre-backs, to adopt more cautious positioning.
Others say it could open space in midfield, with defenders likely to hold deeper lines.
-Reuters
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