Mohammed VI Football Academy, Where Future Moroccan Champions are Made – France 24

The international channel notes that “this success is partly due to the Mohammed VI Academy, which enables the national teams to draw on a pool of talented players.”

Mentioning the recruitment approach adopted by this sports-study complex located in Salé, France 24 notes that around 90% of the children come  through locally based recruitment units.

The AMF, France 24 explains, has around ten pitches, changing rooms, classrooms, weight rooms, games rooms equipped with consoles and table football, multiple dormitories, a three-story medical center, a swimming pool, and a mosque spread over 17 hectares.

The channel explains that the academy’s recruitment units are tasked with finding the best players from the age of six or seven, who are then subjected to athletic development programs for years.

The channel cites the case of striker Yassir Zabiri, who was part of the team that won the U-20 World Cup in Chile in October, the first global trophy won by a Moroccan team.

Citing AMF scout Tarik El Khazri, France 24 reports that the Academy has 26 players who have become regulars in the Moroccan first division, with around 30 playing in Europe, such as defender Abdelhamid Aït-Boudlal in Rennes, France.

According to the same source, many of the players who have graduated from the Mohammed VI Academy are eligible for selection for future major sporting events, particularly the 2026 World Cup and the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco is set to co-host with Spain and Portugal.

Editorial team/le7tv