Morocco Set New African World Cup Record After Beating Netherlands

Morocco continued their remarkable FIFA World Cup journey on Tuesday by knocking out the Netherlands on penalties to reach the Round of 16 and rewrite African football history in the process.

The Atlas Lions triumphed 3-2 in the shootout after a gripping match finished 1-1 following extra time. Cody Gakpo fired the Dutch ahead in the 72nd minute, but Issa Diop struck a dramatic late equaliser to keep Morocco alive and force another 30 minutes.

With both teams missing two penalties each, goalkeeper Yassine Bounou produced the decisive save to deny Crysencio Summerville before Ismael Saibari calmly converted the winning kick.

The result secured Morocco’s third win in a FIFA World Cup knockout tie, matching the combined total achieved by every other African nation in the competition’s history, according to football statistics platform Opta.

Morocco had already won two knockout matches on their memorable run to the semi-finals at the 2022 World Cup. Before then, only Cameroon in 1990, Senegal in 2002 and Ghana in 2010 had managed to win knockout games for Africa at the tournament.

Opta also revealed that Morocco enjoyed 70 per cent possession during open play against the Netherlands, the highest figure recorded by an African side in a World Cup knockout match since records began in 1966.

Africa’s highest-ranked team arrived at the 2026 World Cup sitting seventh in the FIFA world rankings and have continued to impress under coach Mohamed Ouahbi, who took charge only a few months ago. His side has built on the platform established by Walid Regragui, who guided Morocco to a groundbreaking semi-final appearance four years ago.

Morocco will now take on co-hosts Canada in the Round of 16 on Saturday as they look to extend their historic World Cup campaign.