The Mohammed VI Academy, the quarry that drives the new football Morocco
Morocco’s qualification for the knockout phase of the 2026 World Cup once again places this country’s football among the major players on the international scene and highlights the strategic role played by the Mohammed VI Academy of Soccer in the growth of the Atlas Lions.
Several members of the Moroccan team present in the championship have passed through the Academy facilities, including Azzedine Ounahi, Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti and Nayef Aguerd.
Its presence in one of the largest sporting competitions in the world represents the visible result of a training project that began long before the current successes of Moroccan football.
A strategic project started in 2008
The transformation of Moroccan football began to take shape in 2008, when King Mohammed VI placed training, structuring and professionalization at the center of a strategy aimed at turning Morocco into a continental and international sporting reference.
Inaugurated in 2009, the Mohammed VI Football Academy became one of the main realizations of this vision.
Conceived as a center of excellence in accordance with international standards, the institution combines sports training with the academic educationhe personal developmentthe discipline and the comprehensive support of the young people.
Its objective is not only to train professional footballers, but also to prepare young people capable of developing both on and off the field of play.
Talent from all over Morocco
The Academy has a detection network that covers the different regions of the country and makes it possible to identify young players with potential, regardless of their origin.
Every year, around 450 soccer players between 7 and 13 years old are observed and evaluated through the different recruitment structures linked to the institution. Of them, approximately twenty access the excellence program, which reflects the high level of demand and selection of the model.
This system makes it possible to offer equal opportunities to young talents from all over Morocco and to build a training path based on merit, education and performance.
Since its creation, the Academy has contributed to the emergence of several professional footballers. More than twenty of its graduates currently compete in European championships and around thirty develop their careers in the highest category of Moroccan football.
From the historic Qatar semi-final to consolidation in 2026
The historic fourth place achieved by Morocco in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was not an isolated success.
That generation, in which several players trained at the Mohammed VI Academy participated, produced the best performance by an African team in the history of the World Cup.
Four years later, the presence of new graduates in the team competing in the 2026 World Cup confirms the continuity of the model and the ability of Moroccan football to remain among the great emerging powers.
The results obtained by the senior team and by the under-23, under-20 and under-17 categories show the coherence of a project that integrates training, infrastructure, technical modernization and long-term planning.
Fouad Zahouani, from the Mohammed VI Academy to Ajax
The recent agreement for the transfer of Fouad Zahouani to Ajax Amsterdam represents new international recognition for the Moroccan training system.
The 20-year-old defender, trained at the Mohammed VI Academy and later joined Union Touarga Sportif, was one of the members of the Moroccan team that won the 2025 U-20 World Cup.
Zahouani actively participated in achieving that title and was part of a generation that confirmed the potential of the national youth team. In the final against Argentina, four of Morocco’s starters had gone through the Mohammed VI Academy.
His arrival at Ajax, one of the European clubs with the greatest prestige in the training of young footballers, represents a new step in his career and demonstrates the growing international appeal of players trained in Morocco.
Training to compete sustainably
The Mohammed VI Academy has established itself as one of the pillars of the renaissance of Moroccan football, together with the Mohammed VI Football Complex, the improvement of sports infrastructure and the modernization of federative governance.
Each footballer trained in the institution who reaches the professional level or represents Morocco in an international competition symbolizes the success of a strategy based on youth, equal opportunities and excellence.
The participation of its graduates in the 2026 World Cup and the international projection of players like Ounahi, Aguerd and Zahouani reinforce the Academy’s position as a true talent factory and as one of the great assets of Morocco’s sporting future.
About the Mohammed VI Football Academy
Inaugurated in 2009, the Mohammed VI Football Academy is a high-performance training center dedicated to the identification, education and comprehensive development of young Moroccan talents.
Its model combines football training, academic education, discipline, personal support and preparation for professional sports. Since its creation, it has contributed to training numerous international players and footballers who compete in Morocco and in the main European leagues.
