Bilardo’s prophecy about the Moroccan national team: it came true 25 years later
Ex-Argentina manager Carlos Bilardo foresaw Morocco’s footballing future in the 2000s, and the Atlas Lions arrive at the 2026 World Cup in formidable form.
Are Morocco the darkest of dark horses going into the 2026 World Cup? There are a number of reasons to suggest the likes of Argentina, France and Spain should be extremely wary of the Atlas Lions.
Morocco, who will face Brazil, Scotland and Haiti in Group C, are already no strangers to World Cup success, having reached the semifinals against all the odds in Qatar in 2022. In the three-and-a-half years since then, they have lost only three games, the last of which was an African Nations Championship fixture against co-hosts Kenya in August 2025.
Even then, the Morocco A’ national team, open only to domestic league players, took part in that tournament, so it’s debatable as to whether that should even count.
Technically, they are currently on a 28-game unbeaten run, although that includes the hugely controversial Africa Cup of Nations final against Senegal, which they lost after extra time but were then awarded after their opponents stormed off the field in protest at a refereeing decision before later returning to finish the game.
Either way, the bottom line is that Morocco are one of the world’s form teams heading into the World Cup. And one man saw it all coming 25 years ago.
Carlos Bilardo’s remarkable Morocco prediction
Following the North Africans’ Under-20 World Cup victory in October 2025, footage resurfaced of Carlos Bilardo, Argentina’s World Cup-winning manager in 1986, speaking about Morocco’s footballing future on a TV show in his homeland in the early 200s.
At the time, Morocco had competed in only two World Cups and were some way off their current status as tournament regulars. Yet Bilardo foresaw their rise after an extensive trip to the country, and several others in Europe, all the way back in 1975, when he was coach of Argentine club Estudiantes.
“In 1975, we went to play a tournament in Morocco and I said, ‘This is where the future of football is. It’s not in Europe, it’s not in South America.’
“Because people still go outside and play,” Bilardo explained. “I visited different capital cities and people don’t go out and play football there. I went to Italy, to Rome, Milan, Florence, nobody plays there. I went to Germany, to Munich, to Cologne, there’s nowhere to play.”
Why Bilardo believed Africa would produce football powerhouses
Then came the contrast.
“In Africa, they play everywhere,” Bilardo observed. “So Africa has strong countries, like Cameroon, Nigeria, South Africa, Morocco and Tunisia, because people go out and play football there.
“And that’s good, because it means they have technical ability.”
Morocco became the first African team to reach the World Cup semifinals in Qatar in 2022. Can they do even better in the United States, Mexico and Canada this time around? If they do, Bilardo, now 88, won’t be surprised.
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