Morocco–Spain football rivalry

Due to their proximity, relations between Morocco and Spain have very long and complicated chapters, which saw Spain and Morocco once parts of the Roman Empire. Morocco, as the staging point of many indigenous Islamised dynasties, would then conquer Spain as part of Al-Andalus, under the reign of the Umayyad Caliphate, Almoravid dynasty and Almohad Caliphate, both left significant cultural landmarks in Spain.^[2] The rise of Catholic powers in the north enabled the Reconquista, slowly swallowed Muslim-dominated territories before annexing the Emirate of Granada in 1492, known as the Granada War.^[3] Muslims and Jews were expelled from Spain in the aftermath of the war, and the two maintained complicated relations.

At the 19th century, following the Scramble of Africa, Spain would proclaim Protectorates in the Rif, Cape Juby and Western Sahara, resulting in the partition of Morocco between Spain and France.^[4] The Rif War that lasted between 1921-1926 led by Abd el-Krim almost resulted in the expulsion of Spanish forces out of the Rif, before a joint Franco-Spanish expeditionary force would drive out the Riffians and restore Spanish control in 1926.^[5] Morocco would later gain independence in 1956, and Spain would renounce all those territories, except for the disputed Western Sahara and the two cities of Ceuta and Melilla; Spain later vacated Western Sahara in 1975, enabling Moroccan troops to invade and occupy two-third of the territory due to the Green March.^[6] However, the obstacles over Ceuta and Melilla sometimes flare up tensions between the two states til today.^[7][8]

Due to deeply intertwined and complex historical relations, Morocco and Spain have developed a long-standing rivalry. However, because they are affiliated to different confederations, Morocco and Spain often do not have much opportunities to face each other. The two first faced each other at the 1962 FIFA World Cup qualification, where Spain triumphed in both matches in highly tense and ferocious atmospheres, 1–0 away in Casablanca and 3–2 home in Madrid to qualify for the 1962 FIFA World Cup in Chile.^[9]

It took over 57 years since the two first met each other to finally play again, this time in group B of the 2018 FIFA World Cup, where an already-eliminated Morocco stunned Spain with a fierce performance, holding Spain to a 2–2 draw, with Spain secured their first place at the dying minutes in a match filled with controversies surrounding VAR.^[10][11] Just four years later, in the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Morocco and Spain would again clash at the World Cup, this time at the round of 16; Spain largely dominated but failed to penetrate against a highly organised Moroccan defence, before going down with a 3–0 defeat on penalties to their North African rival.^[12]

All four previous meetings between the two nations have been competitive, and none happened in a friendly. Matches between two national teams often resulted in heated and unfriendly sentiment between the two sections of supporters due to deeply intertwined, connected and often troubled historical tie.^[1][13][11]

List of matches

More information No., Date ...

No.	Date	Venue	Winner	Score	Morocco scorers	Spain scorers	Competition
1	12 November 1961	State d'Honneur, Casablanca, Morocco	Spain	1–0		Luis del Sol 80'	1962 FIFA World Cup qualification
2	23 November 1961	Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, Madrid, Spain	Spain	3–2	Sellam Riahi 40' Abdallah Ben Barek 64'	Marcelino Martínez 12' Alfredo Di Stéfano 44' Enrique Collar 58'
3	25 June 2018	Kaliningrad Stadium, Kaliningrad, Russia	Draw	2–2	Khalid Boutaïb 14' Youssef En-Nesyri 81'	Isco 19' Iago Aspas 90+1'	2018 FIFA World Cup
4	6 December 2022	Education City Stadium, Al Rayyan, Qatar	Draw	0–0 Morocco won (3–0 p)			2022 FIFA World Cup

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• Morocco–Spain relations