How Morocco Can Win the FIFA World Cup 2026 Title

Before the FIFA World Cup 2026 began, Morocco’s head coach, Mohamed Ouahbi, was asked about his ambitions for the national team. His answer was bold, direct and almost provocative:

“We can win the World Cup.”

When I first heard those words, I thought he could have chosen them more carefully.

It is widely understood in football that every coach wants his players to believe, but World Cups have a habit of punishing bold predictions. I wondered whether those words would eventually come back to haunt Ouahbi with a difficult group lineup and an unforgiving knockout path ahead.

Three group stage fixtures and two knockout matches later, I find myself not only repeating the same bold statement, but making a bolder one: Morocco can win the World Cup and could dominate world football for years to come.

Domination against the Dutch

The victory over the favoured Netherlands side in the round of 32 – despite them being ranked one place lower at eighth in the official FIFA World rankings – was the Atlas Lion’s biggest game of the tournament.

The Dutch had to abandon their “total football” philosophy and adopted a low-block defensive mentality, which showed the level of respect Morocco has now garnered against world football powerhouses.

Morocco went behind, but equalised late to finish 1-1 in regulation. The North African side could have won in extra time, but they kept their composure and prevailed 3-2 in a strange penalty shootout, featuring multiple missed spot kicks from both sides.

The biggest statistical takeaway from that fixture was Morocco’s near-total control of the match for large periods, dominating the encounter with 70 percent of the possession against one of the most feared offensive teams in global football.

Gatecrashing the cohost’s party

But if the knockout contest against the Netherlands was Morocco’s biggest scalp at the World Cup, it was the following match against cohost Canada in the last 16 that was the most important.

These are the kind of games that show the character of the team and the resilience that separates good teams from the great ones.

There was a ruthless efficiency to their 3-0 victory, a superb understanding of the game from the coach, a bench that could make a difference and a patience that outfoxed a very fast, resilient, and physical team.

These traits are shared by World Cup winners, and Morocco has been developing them at an alarming pace during the 2026 tournament.

- Author: Ali El Garni, Al Jazeera