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Marrakech – Morocco inaugurated on Tuesday its pavilion at the Aldea Global 2026 cultural festival in Mexico City, bringing Moroccan craftsmanship and heritage to the international gathering running alongside the FIFA World Cup.
The pavilion, open through June 21, is a joint initiative by the Chambre de l’Artisanat of the Rabat-Sale-Kenitra region and Morocco’s embassy in Mexico. Ambassador Abdelfattah Lebbar, chamber president Abderrahim Zamzami, foreign diplomats, Mexican officials, and members of the Moroccan community in Mexico attended the inauguration.
Aldea Global 2026 brings together all 48 World Cup nations in a single cultural space. Each country operates its own pavilion alongside thematic exhibitions, a culinary zone featuring dishes from participating nations, live music and entertainment stages, and dedicated areas for watching World Cup matches on big screens. The event bills itself as “a journey around the world without leaving the city.”
Ambassador Lebbar told attendees the kingdom’s participation aims to introduce Morocco’s history, civilizational heritage, and ancestral traditions to Mexican and international audiences.
The event, he noted, offers a platform to celebrate cultural diversity and bring peoples closer together. Football, he added, “transcends its sporting dimension to become a universal language capable of uniting nations and bringing cultures closer.”
Read also: For Ninety Minutes, Morocco: Football and Tamghrabit
Morocco has preserved its authentic identity while keeping pace with contemporary change, he argued, telling the gathering that the kingdom’s cultural, civilizational, and touristic assets make it a model of diversity, coexistence, and openness.
In a declaration to Morocco’s state-owned news agency MAP, Zamzami noted that the pavilion displays a range of Moroccan artisanal products, including textiles, carpets, and traditional jewelry. These creations “reflect the ancestral savoir-faire of Moroccan artisans and illustrate the national cultural identity,” he told MAP.
Zamzami added that the World Cup-adjacent event in Mexico presents a prime opportunity to expand the international reach of Moroccan craftsmanship, open new channels for cultural and economic exchange, and promote the North African country’s civilizational and touristic strengths.
The pavilion’s inauguration comes as Morocco’s Atlas Lions compete in Group C of the first-ever 48-team World Cup, hosted jointly by the United States, Canada, and Mexico.
Morocco opened its campaign on June 13 at MetLife Stadium in New Jersey with a hard-fought 1-1 draw against five-time champions Brazil. Ismael Saibari put the Atlas Lions ahead in the 21st minute before Vinícius Júnior equalized for the Seleção eleven minutes later.
FIFA’s seventh-ranked Morocco entered the global tournament as the highest-ranked African and Arab team, as well as the reigning AFCON 2025 champions. The country landed in North America on the back of a historic fourth-place finish at Qatar 2022, where they became the first African and Arab nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals. The Atlas Lions qualified for this year’s World Cup by topping their CAF group with a perfect eight wins from eight matches.
With one point from their opener, Morocco next face Scotland on Friday at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, near Boston. Scotland top Group C on three points after a 1-0 win over Haiti.
