Sport Morocco

[Wassim™]

Sports in Morocco refers to the sports played in the Kingdom of Morocco. As of 2007, Moroccan society participated in many sports, including handball, football, golf, tennis, basketball, and athletics. Hicham El Guerrouj, a retired middle distance runner for Morocco, won two gold medals for Morocco at the Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics.

Morocco qualified for the FIFA World Cup five times and bid for the World Cups 1994, 1998, 2006, 2010 and 2026 but lost out to United States, France, Germany, South Africa and Canada/Mexico/United States in these bids. Morocco is now co-bidding for 2030 with either Portugal/Spain or Algeria/Tunisia.

The Botola Pro is the top league competition for football clubs in Morocco. Each year 16 teams compete for the championship. Champion and runner-up participate in the African Champions League. The most successful clubs are ASFAR (football club), and Wydad Casablanca, and Raja Casablanca

Mehdi Bennani is Morocco's most notable racing driver. He has competed in the World Touring Car Championship since 2009, where he has scored a number of top three finishes. In 2014 he scored his first WTCC win at the championship's Shanghai round

Morocco hosted the 2002 Morocco Cup, which was well attended.Sri Lanka beat South Africa in the final.

Morocco boasts an ICC approved ground capable of hosting full internationals, the National Cricket Stadium in Tangier. It has so far hosted a One Day International triangular tournament, the Morocco Cup in 2002, where Sri Lanka won ahead of South Africa and Pakistan.

Morocco, represented by the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Basket-Ball, has been affiliated to FIBA since 1936.[4] The men's national team has won a FIBA Africa Championship title, won in 1965. The professional national league is Nationale 1.

Rugby union came to Morocco in the early 20th century, mainly by the French who occupied the country.[5] As a result, Moroccan rugby was tied to the fortunes of France, during the first and second World War, with many Moroccan players going away to fight.[5] Like many other Maghreb nations, Moroccan rugby tended to look to Europe for inspiration, rather than to the rest of Africa.