In keeping with Royal Ambition, Atlas Lionesses Make History

On Aug 4, 2023

mapnews

Rabat – The impossible is not Moroccan! The qualification with flying colors of the Atlas Lionesses for the Round of 16 of the World Cup in Australia is certainly historic, but not fortuitous or even a coincidence.

In keeping with HM King Mohammed VI’s goals for a glitzy national sport that is earning a name for itself on the international scene, as was the case at the Qatar 2022 World Cup, it is an extremely illuminating accomplishment of Moroccan skill.

The accomplishments of Morocco’s numerous national teams are the result of arduous labor infused with seriousness, commitment, and the ideals of real patriotism, all carried out under the Sovereign’s inspiring guidance.

If the Royal vision is succeeding at the major football tournaments throughout the world, this is a glaring example of the development initiatives and policies promoted at the highest levels of government.

It didn’t take long for the implementation of this discipline to put women’s football in Morocco on the right road, as part of an ambitious, organized, and no-holds-barred strategy, after the Plan for the Development of Women’s Football in Morocco 2020-2024 was signed in August 2020.

The senior national squad has qualified for the World Cup’s knockout rounds for the first time and advanced to the AFCON final in 2022. a debut. These accomplishments follow the national championship’s professionalization less than two years ago, under the direction of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), which intends to have 90,000 members by the year 2024.

Previously limited to amateur status, women’s football has undeniably taken off from the year 2020, emerging as a role model for Africa and beyond and setting the standard for the region.

The FRMF’s initiatives, including the payment of player salaries, direct club subsidies (buses, shirts, balls, etc.), and other incentives, helped professional football take off.

The three-part plan, with its focused measures, emphasizes restructuring, discipline development, and national team oversight.

Additionally, the Federation has conducted talent prospecting and detection programs in the different provinces of the Kingdom while also ensuring that the sport-studies program is implemented and that national technical managers’ skills are strengthened.

Clubs have not been left behind in this positive trend; elite clubs have received significant support, and high-quality infrastructure has also been installed for regional clubs and leagues to speed up training.

The Federation’s extensive training program for dozens of participants in Rabat and Sa’dia, an effort that was later expanded to provincial football facilities, is another important component of this strategy.

In more concrete terms, the Kingdom was chosen to host the 2022 Women’s African Cup of Nations, FAR Rabat placed third in the inaugural CAF Women’s Champions League, and the U17 team earned a spot in the 2023 World Cup.

The accomplishment of the Atlas Lionesses thus echoes the high value of the speech given by HM the King last Saturday, in which the Sovereign emphasized: “Whenever the conditions are right, and each time they commit to seriousness and to the spirit of patriotism, Moroccan youth always manage to dazzle the world with great, unprecedented accomplishments, and the feat of our national football team in the last World Cup is a case in point.”