Why is Morocco abbreviated MAR in football?
MOROCCO is known for its hot weather, stunning sunshine and gorgeous food.
The country is now becoming known for their football skills - but some are confused about the team's abbreviation.
Why is Morocco abbreviation MAR?
If you've watched Morocco play football on TV then you may have noticed they have an odd abbreviation.
FIFA assigns each member country a unique three-letter country code, and these codes are used to refer to the countries during official competitions.
The country goes as MAR and not MOR - which many would expect.
This is due to the French influence in the country, despite the official languages of the country are Arabic and Berber.
The French word for Morocco is Maroc - and the abbreviation MAR of this which is why it is used for sporting events and as the official country code.
Who plays for the Morocco national team?
The Morocco football team is coached by Walid Regragui who is a professional football manager and former player who played as a right-back.
Here is who played on the Morocco national team in the 2022 World Cup:
- GK: Yassine Bounou (Sevilla)
- GK: Munir El Kajoui (Al Wehda)
- GK: Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti (Wydad Casablanca)
- DF: Nayef Aguerd (West Ham United)
- DF: Yahia Attiat Allah (Wydad Casablanca)
- DF: Badr Benoun (Qatar SC)
- DF: Achraf Dari (Stade Brest)
- DF: Jawad El Yamiq (Real Valladolid)
- DF: Achraf Hakimi (Paris Saint-Germain)
- DF: Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern Munich)
- DF: Romain Saiss (Besiktas)
- MF: Sofyan Amrabat (Manchester United, on loan from Fiorentina)
- MF: Selim Amallah (Standard Liege)
- MF: Bilal El Khannouss (Racing Genk)
- MF: Yahya Jabrane (Wydad Casablanca)
- MF: Azzedine Ounahi (Angers)
- MF: Abdelhamid Sabiri (Sampdoria)
- FW: Zakaria Aboukhlal (Toulouse)
- FW: Soufiane Boufal (Angers)
- FW: Ilias Chair (Queens Park Rangers)
- FW: Walid Cheddira (Bari)
- FW: Youssef En-Nesyri (Sevilla)
- FW: Abde Ezzalzouli (Osasuna)
- FW: Abderrazak Hamdallah (Al Ittihad)
- FW: Amine Harit (Olympique Marseille)
- FW: Hakim Ziyech (Chelsea)
How many times have Morocco qualified for the world cup?
Morocco have managed to qualify for the final stages of the FIFA World Cup six times, which were in 1970, 1986, 1994, 1998, 2018 and 2022.
Their particularly impressed in 2022 with their best performance when they finished in fourth place.
This meant they became both the first African and Arab nation to reach a semi-final at a World Cup.
Morocco managed to win Group F and eliminated Spain and Portugal.
They went on to lose against France in the semi-finals before playing in the third place play-off match against Croatia.