Morocco

Nickname: Atlas Lions
FIFA ranking: 39
Captain: Abdeslam Ouaddou
Coach: Henri Michel
Appearances: 12 (First in 1972) Best result: Winners, 1976

French coach Henri Michel has brought pride back to these Lions and transformed the squad into one of the teams to be feared in the coming CAF Africa Cup of Nations. Morocco climbed back up to 39th position in the November 2007 FIFA World Ranking after holding France to a 2-2 draw and strolling to a 3-0 win over Senegal - a big improvement on the 48th place they occupied at their lowest ebb in April 2007. These recent runs makes the Atlas Lions one of the favourites for the Cup.

Key players to look out for are Dinamo Kiev's Badr El Kaddouri, Espanyol's Mohamed El Yaagoubi and Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh.
Morocco won the African Nations Cup once, in 1976.

Players

Goalkeepers
Abdelilah Bagui (Maghreb Fes, Morocco) Khalid Fouhami (Raja Casablanca, Morocco) Nadir Lamyaghri (Wydad Casablanca, Morocco)

Defenders
Jamal Alioui (FC Sion Switzerland) Abdessamad Chahiri (Difaa El Jadida, Morocco) Mickael Chretien (Nancy, France) Talal El Karkouri (Qatar SC, Qatar) El Armine Erbate (Al Dafra, United Arab Emirates) Hicham Mahdoufi (Metalist Kharkiv, Ukraine) Abdeslam Ouaddou (Valenciennes, France)

Midfielders
Soufiane Alloudi (Al Ain, United Arab Emirates) Badr El Kaddouri (Dinamo Kyiv, Ukraine) Abderrahmane Kabous (CSKA Sofia, Bulgaria) Houcine Kharja (Piacenza, Italy) Abdelkrim Kissi (EN Paralimini, Cyprus) Youssef Safri (Southampton, England) Tarik Sektioui (FC Porto, Portugal)

Strikers Hicham Aboucherouane (Esperance, Tunisia) Maroune Chamakh (Girondins Bordeaux, France) Bouchaib El Moubarki (Grenoble, France) Youssef Hadji (Nancy, France) Youssef Moukhtari (Al Jazeera, Qatar) Moncef Zerka (Nancy, France)

African Nations Cup Record

1957 - Did not enter
1959 - Did not enter
1962 - Withdrew
1963 - Did not qualify
1965 - Did not enter
1968 - Did not qualify
1970 - Did not qualify
1972 - Round 1
1974 - Did not qualify
1976 - Champions
1978 - Round 1
1980 - Third place
1982 - Did not qualify
1984 - Did not qualify
1986 - Fourth place
1988 - Fourth place
1990 - Did not qualify
1992 - Round 1
1994 - Did not qualify
1996 - Did not qualify
1998 - Quarterfinals
2000 - Round 1
2002 - Round 1
2004 - Second place
2006 - Round 1
2008 - qualified