Morocco Football Federation president Fouzi Lekjaa has warned that the country’s recent international success is masking a serious weakness in its domestic game, just four years before the 2030 World Cup.
Morocco are currently sixth in the FIFA rankings and reached the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup, while continuing to attract dual-nationality players and earning praise for their youth development structures. But Lekjaa believes the gap between those achievements and the state of the local league is widening.
Speaking at a meeting in Rabat with coaches from Morocco’s first and second divisions, the head of the Federation Royale Marocaine de Football (FRMF) highlighted what he sees as a growing divide between players developed in the Botola and those based at foreign clubs.
According to Lekjaa, this discrepancy is now visible across all age groups and threatens to undermine the foundations of the national team in the long term.
Growing reliance on foreign-trained players
The imbalance is particularly stark in youth national teams, where the core of the squads is no longer drawn from domestic clubs.
At both Under-23 and Under-17 level, most key players now come from European academies or from the Academie Mohammed VI, with only a handful emerging directly from Botola sides.
Fathi Jamal, the FRMF’s director of technical development, also raised alarm over the issue during the same gathering.
He pointed to the current Under-18 squad, which is on duty in Spain and made up of 20 players developed within Morocco’s system. Despite that, Jamal stressed that almost none of them are getting meaningful playing time in the Botola.
Only a few clubs, such as Raja and Wydad, are described as offering these youngsters occasional minutes in competitive matches, rather than regular opportunities to establish themselves at senior level.
Union Touarga held up as rare pathway
Within this context, Union Touarga are being cited as an exception for providing a genuine bridge between academy football and the professional game, particularly for prospects from the Academie Mohammed VI.
The most striking example is forward Tawfik Bentayeb, who progressed from the academy to Union Touarga and then to Europe. Bentayeb finished last season as the top scorer in France’s Ligue 2 with 20 goals while on loan at Troyes, and remains under contract with the Rabat club.
On the back of that breakthrough campaign, he is expected to return to Europe on a permanent transfer during the summer window, underlining the potential of players who are given a clear route from domestic development to higher-level competition.
Financial strain and governance concerns
Lekjaa did not limit his concerns to player development. He also referred to the difficult financial situation facing many Moroccan clubs and to legal disputes currently being handled by FIFA.
In addition, he mentioned ongoing tensions around refereeing and wider governance issues in the domestic game, suggesting that these structural problems are compounding the challenges on the pitch.
The combination of limited game time for young players, economic fragility and persistent controversy surrounding officiating has, in Lekjaa’s view, created an environment that is not conducive to sustaining Morocco’s recent progress at international level.
New roadmap ahead of 2030 World Cup
With Morocco set to co-host the 2030 World Cup, Lekjaa believes the country has entered a decisive period and that a new cycle must begin immediately.
The FRMF now wants to draw up a shared roadmap with club presidents and coaches from the top two divisions, with the central aim of integrating more young players into first-team football in both tiers of the Botola.
Morocco’s national teams may be shining on the global stage, but Lekjaa and his technical staff are warning that without a revitalised domestic championship, future success could increasingly depend on footballers trained abroad rather than on a robust local system.
