Morocco's run at the women's World Cup is causing ripples back home
When the Moroccan men’s soccer team made its historic run to the World Cup semifinals in December, fans across Africa and the Middle East celebrated the long-awaited breakthrough.
But the Moroccan women’s run in this summer’s World Cup may have an even bigger cultural and social impact at home. Last week, the Atlas Lionesses became the first Arab team to advance to the knockout round of the women’s World Cup, a moment that already seems to have shifted some conventions in the North African nation.
The program itself is only 25 years old. When the United States won its second World Cup trophy in 1999, Morocco’s women still had just a single win in any setting. The question of whether women should be allowed to play soccer was still a subject of conversation in cafes, in newspapers and on TV and radio as recently as two weeks ago, and there are still plenty of skeptics.
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Morocco’s first game, a 6-0 loss to two-time champion Germany, did not help. In a meme circulated on social media, clips of the German goals were matched up with a popular Moroccan pop song in which the singer counts from one to 10. After the sixth goal, numbers seven to 10 lined up with images of domestic life: a mop, laundry, a kitchen, a newborn baby. The not-so subtle message was that the loss was further proof that women belonged in the home.
And yet, a week later, a remarkable turnaround saw Morocco knock off South Korea, 1-0, for its first World Cup win and then somehow hang on to a 1-0 lead against a late onslaught from Colombia — until then, one of the teams of the tournament. The squad huddled together on the pitch in Perth, Australia, chanting a du’a (a type of prayer) and waiting on the result from the Germany-South Korea match. As word came in that Germany and South Korea had tied — meaning Morocco would advance — the chants gave way to pure elation. Cameras zoomed in on Rkia Mazraoui, a defender who had not played a minute in the three games. She fell to her knees, half-shouting, half-crying.
Back home, the conversation was changing too, as Morocco advanced to Tuesday’s round-of-16 meeting with former colonizer France, which eliminated the Moroccan men last year. After the Colombia win, Knorr, a bouillon company and a staple of the Moroccan kitchen, ran an ad with a picture of the World Cup trophy and a message that read: “Nothing other than Knorr belongs in the kitchen. Congratulations to the Lionesses of the Atlas.”
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“Before the girls started playing, people said, ‘Go back to your kitchen,’” Meryem Ouelfatmi, a 27-year-old from Khenifra, said in an interview, “but then after they win they say, ‘Oh, those are the Lionesses of the Atlas.’ The whole vibe changed after their success.”
To some, it’s almost refreshing that the team is finally being assessed by the quality of its play and not by its existence.
The cultural shift is intentional. It’s the product of decades of investment in coaching, facilities and recruiting by the royal federation, led by a visionary federation chief, Fouzi Lekjaa, and inspired and encouraged by King Mohammed VI. (The king receives regular shout-outs from the team; captain Ghizlane Chebbak posted a simple message — “God, King, Country” — on Instagram after the latest victory.) A preview show on national television network 2M opened with a conversation between two female comedians, one dressed as a man. The man initially argues that “soccer is for men; women are better off baking,” but then is convinced that “times have changed and it’s time to watch the Lionesses.” The bit is remarkable for how it tackles Moroccans’ reservations head-on — on the country’s biggest television station.
AS FAR, a storied men’s club affiliated with the royal military, has been a pioneer on the women’s front, claiming 10 league titles and winning the most recent African Women’s Champions League.
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“At a younger age, boys and girls play football in the street, on the beach, but at a certain age, we did not have structures to support girls,” said Bahya el Yahmidi, head of the FAR women’s section and vice president of the national women’s championship. “We now have neighborhood fields everywhere, even in small towns.”
FAR’s investment in youth development has been crucial for soccer around the country; other clubs are trying to emulate its success.
Despite the progress of the domestic game, on a global scale, one of the biggest stories to emerge from the team’s run in this Cup has been Nouhaila Benzina, who became the first woman to wear a hijab in a World Cup match. Last week on conservative French TV network CNews, Philippe Guibert called her wearing of the hijab “regressive” and argued it was an insult to her teammates, whom she was implicitly criticizing of immodesty.
Many Moroccans chuckle at this. There, it is a nonissue. Plenty of female athletes across all sports wear them, and plenty do not. “No one talks about it,” said Zineb Srairi, a coach and former professional player from Tangier. “People will always focus on something strange, but here it’s really not something strange. It’s personal. … That’s it.”
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It’s perfectly common to see families and groups of friends in which some women wear the hijab and some do not. To Moroccan fans, Benzina is simply a heroic defender who flung her body around the penalty area as Morocco clung to its 1-0 lead late against Colombia.
“I don’t even wear hijab, and she still empowers me,” said Jinane Ennasri, an American-Moroccan sports photographer.
Where the men’s team came into last year’s World Cup boasting stars from some of European soccer’s biggest clubs, the Moroccan women were relatively unknown before the start of the tournament. Their popularity still pales in comparison to that of the men’s team, but they are catching up. For many, the players feel more accessible. Fans have started referring to players by their first names — something not heard with the men’s team — and following their every move on Instagram.
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The team’s success also has a deep family feel. Chebbak, the team’s captain, regularly cites the inspiration of her late father, a former star who was part of the national team that won Morocco’s only African championship in 1976. Young women watch with their parents and siblings. “They look like me, they look like my sister, even look like my mom, who wears a hijab — a bunch of us looking into the mirror,” Ennasri said.
Khawla Arhzaf, a 22-year-old student from Rabat, watches the games with her brother. “It has been a big switch,” she said, “not just for women but for men watching the team and supporting them.”
Before each game, Ennasri hears from her father. He says the same thing every time. “Bnat ghadi laabu,” he shouts in the Moroccan dialect of Arabic, “The girls are playing. Come on.”
Graham Cornwell is a writer and historian of the Middle East and North Africa based in Lexington, Ky. Follow him on Twitter, recently renamed X, at @ghcornwell.
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