Rabat – The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) announced in an official statement on its website that Morocco head coach Jorge Vilda will hold a press conference next Friday, July 17, at the Mohammed VI Football Complex.
The main purpose of the press conference is to unveil the final squad for the upcoming edition of the WAFCON, which will be held in Morocco from July 26 to August 16.
This edition marks the third consecutive WAFCON hosted by Morocco. For the first time in the tournament’s history, the competition will feature 16 African national teams.
The Atlas Lionesses have been drawn into Group A alongside Algeria, Senegal, and Kenya. Morocco will begin its campaign against Kenya on July 26 in the tournament’s opening match.
The Atlass Lionesses’ WAFCON history
Morocco’s Atlas Lionesses made their WAFCON debut in 1998 in Nigeria. From that debut until the 2018 tournament, the Moroccan team had a modest participation. The Lionesses frequently exited the group stage and missed out on qualification for several tournament cycles.
The journey with the WAFCON has flourished since the 2022 edition. Under the leadership and the long-term investment of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), the Moroccan ladies took it to reach the final stage of the tournament, for the first time in history, to secure an automatic qualification for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup, where they became the first Arab nation to reach the knockout stages.
At the last edition of the WAFCON, the Atlas Lionesses returned to the final once again to suffer a dramatic, heartbreaking loss to the Super Falcons of Nigeria. They led much of the game and won 2-0 by the end of the first half, only to dramatically end up losing 3-2.
