Rabat – The Mohammed VI Football Academy, set up in 2009 in Salé, has stood out over the years as a jewel in the crown of training to promote the national football, which in recent years has achieved numerous continental and international successes.
The Academy, which came into being thanks to the farsighted leadership of HM King Mohammed VI, has become a benchmark in sports training and the detection of young talent.
The historic feats achieved by national football in recent years confirm, if need be, the considerable efforts made by the Kingdom in the field of sports training, embodied by the Mohammed VI Academy as a key to the success of national teams on the continental and international stages, thanks to the emergence of a new generation of high-caliber players, some of whom now form the backbone of the national “A” football team that will compete in the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON-2023), scheduled for January 13 to February 11 in Côte d’Ivoire.
Following on from their unprecedented success at the 2002 World Cup in Qatar, the graduates of the Mohammed VI Football Academy are still a strong presence in the national team squad, with Youssef En-Nesyri, Azzedine Ounahi, Nayef Aguerd and the promising Abdelkabir Abqar, attesting to the quality of the training provided by this sports facility at all levels.
After the outstanding performance of the Atlas Lions at the Qatari World Cup and the good results achieved by the men’s and women’s national football teams in all age categories, the AFCON-2023 will once again be an opportunity for Moroccan players to shine and show the full extent of their talent, writing a glorious new chapter in the history of national football.
As well as being a benchmark in player training and an incubator for budding young footballers, the Mohammed VI Academy is a Royal project that aims to promote national football and develop its level, by spotting young talent and honing their skills.
Covering an area of around 18 hectares, the Academy, which has mobilized investments of the order of 140 million dirhams, illustrates the High Solicitude with which HM the King never ceases to surround sport in general and football in particular.
This hub of excellence has been built and equipped according to the standards in force in world-class European training centers, with a view to providing young Moroccans with the ideal conditions to benefit from high-quality training, enabling them to play for the biggest clubs in Morocco and Europe.
The Academy is also the driving force behind a strategic football training policy that includes talent spotting and detection projects in the various regions of the Kingdom, as well as capacity building for national technical staff.
Like the Mohammed VI Football Academy, which reflects the enormous efforts made in the area of training, the dazzling success of the national football is by no means the result of chance, but rather the outcome of long-term efforts and good governance to promote the most popular sport in the country and strengthen its competitiveness, in keeping with the enlightened Royal vision in this area.
