Morocco’s under-20 world champions received a royal and popular welcome in Rabat after returning from Chile with the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup title.

Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan hosted the team at the Royal Palace, a ceremony held on the instructions of King Mohammed VI to honour the Young Atlas Lions for a landmark triumph.

The audience was attended by Fouzi Lekjaa, president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), head coach Mohamed Ouahbi and the full squad.

Outside the palace, thousands of supporters lined the streets of the capital for an open-top bus parade that wound through central Rabat, including Avenue Mohammed V.

Fans waved national flags, wore national-team colours and chanted as the champions passed by.

Morocco sealed the title on Monday night, beating Argentina 2–0 in the final in Chile. Forward Yasser Zbeiri struck twice in the 12th and 29th minutes to deliver a famous victory and etch Morocco’s name in the competition’s roll of honor.

The run to the trophy showcased the breadth of the team’s progress. Ouahbi’s side defeated traditional powerhouses along the way, including Brazil, Spain, France and the United States, marrying defensive discipline with ruthless counter-attacking to navigate a demanding knockout path.

King Mohammed VI had earlier sent a congratulatory message to the delegation in Chile, praising the squad for bringing honour to Morocco and for representing Africa with distinction on the world stage.

Wednesday’s ceremony and the capital’s city-wide celebrations capped a week in which the team’s success has been hailed as another marker of the rapid rise of Moroccan football.

With the senior men’s and women’s teams already achieving historic milestones in recent years, the U-20 world title deepens Morocco’s footprint in global football and adds momentum to a youth pathway that continues to deliver at the highest level.

The results of Morocco’s sports policy.

While this victory demonstrate the impressive performance of the U20 Moroccan national team during the whole competition, it also is the result of the Kingdom’s sports policy and its important investments in the sector.

Since the National Sports Conference of 2008, HM. King Mohammed VI emphasized that He believes in the Moroccan sport’s great potential, stating, “We will therefore spare no effort to support all worthwhile initiatives we have set to make Moroccan sport an exemplary model and a factor in social cohesion and in strengthening our regional and international influence.”

This ambitious orientation towards sports has provided decisive momentum to make sport a lever for human, social, and territorial development, making the triumph of the Lion Cubs at the U20 World Cup the culmination of a well-thought-out and structured sports policy, driven by the Sovereign.

This ambition was based, among others, on a policy of local sports infrastructure, under Royal impetus, which has multiplied the number of local playing fields, regional training centers, and modern facilities, allowing Moroccan youth to engage in sports across all regions.

Furthermore, the Kingdom has accelerated its development in training football of talents by the democratization of access to sport that has shaped a new talented, disciplined, and self-confident generation.

The Mohammed VI Football Academy : A factory of talents.

The new generation of Moroccan football talents has been trained in the Mohammed VI Football Academy, launched in 2009 and further enhanced after 2013, which became a benchmark in sports training, enabling the discovery of young talents and their advancement to broader horizons.

This major football infrastructure, which covers 18 hectares with an investment of around 140 million Moroccan dirhams (14 million USD), exemplifies the High Solicitude that the Sovereign consistently extends to sports in general and football in particular.

Today, the Mohammed VI Academy stands as a pole of excellence, contributing to the success of national teams both on a continental and international stage, by nurturing a new generation of top-level players, some of whom now form the backbone of the senior national team.

Several players from this victorious generation come from this institution symbolizing the rise of the Moroccan training model. Among them five players from the U20 World Cup squad are graduates of the Mohammed VI Football Academy (AMF): Yassir Zabir, Othmane Kountoune, Fouad Zahouani, Houssam Essadak and Yassine Khalifi.

Morocco’s sports policy has also demonstrated its results in the past, notably with the historic journey of the Atlas Lions at the 2022 World Cup and the performances of Moroccan women’s football—with a first-ever World Cup qualification and a continental final— which showcases the success of this long-term strategy and reflects the inclusive and balanced nature of the royal vision.

By winning the U20 World Cup, Morocco reaffirms its position as a pioneer of African and Arab football, reflecting the consistency, method, and foresight of the King of Morocco.

It is the victory of a generation, but also of a coherent policy in which sport becomes a driver of progress and a beacon for the Kingdom.

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