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Morocco’s national football team outclassed Niger on Friday, September 5, with a resounding 5-0 victory at the reconstructed Moulay Abdellah Sports Complex in Rabat, during the 7th round of the 2026 World Cup qualifiers.
This day will remain engraved in the annals of Moroccan football. With this emphatic win, the Atlas Lions booked their ticket to the World Cup for the third time in a row (2018, 2022, 2026) and the seventh time in their history (1970, 1986, 1994, 1998).
Walid Regragui’s men only needed a single point to secure qualification. Instead, they took all three to the delight of the tens of thousands of fans in the stands and the millions scotched to their TV sets. With 18 points in six matches, they sit comfortably at the top of Group E, now out of reach of their pursuers, Tanzania (10 points), Zambia and Niger (6 points each), and Congo (1 point).
The five goals were scored by Ismael Saibari, who netted a brace (29th and 38th minutes), Ayoub El Kaabi (50th), Hamza Igamane (68th), and Azeddine Ounahi (84th).
The match, the first to be played in the Moulay Abdellah Complex, which was inaugurated on Thursday after a complete reconstruction, turned the game into a genuine popular celebration.
With qualification to World Cup 2026 now secured, the Atlas Lions can look ahead with confidence. Meanwhile, all attention will focus on the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations, to be hosted by Morocco December 21, 2025 through January 18, 2026, a golden opportunity to confirm their status and deliver a second continental trophy to their nation, on home soil.
FIFA Chief Gianni Infantino congratulated the Moroccan team and all of Morocco for this qualification to the World Cup 2026 to be played in Canada, Mexico, and the United States.
“Your seventh FIFA World Cup qualification ahead of co-hosting the centenary 2030 edition is cause for great celebration. We look forward to seeing more scenes like we saw on your impressive run to the Semi-Finals at Qatar 2022,” Infantino wrote on Instagram.
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