The Atlas Lions return to football's biggest party for the first time since players like Mustapha Hadji and Noureddine Naybet represented the North African nation. The team going to Russia won't be there to just make up the numbers. With tactician Hervé Renard the Moroccans have all the makings of upset-makers. Renard is the only coach to win the African Cup of Nations with two different teams, a difficult feat in arguably the most competitive footballing continent. The team has several dangerous players that have the ability to ruffle the feathers of geographical neighbours Spain and Portugal, who are the favourites to advance out of their group. Renard has managed to calm player/federation tension to assemble a very strong Moroccan outfit made up of many European developed players. Hakim Ziyech will be the focal point of an attack made up of several tricksters. The Ajax midfielder's decision to represent the Africans over Holland was met with a lot of criticism but that move looks to be justified as it's Morocco and not the Dutch that will be in Russia. Ziyech has impeccable control and vision, and as Mali found out in the qualifiers has the ability to drive an entire team forward. The leader of the team will be Juventus' Medhi Benatia, who was colossal in qualifying barking orders to a team that didn't concede a single goal in their entire route to the World Cup.  Playmakers Mbark Boussoufa, Karim El Ahmadi, Younes Belhanda and Nordin Amrabat all have loads of European experience and are all secure with the ball at their feet. On the other end of the experience scale, the Moroccan squad can boast Real Madrid's reserve right-back Achraf Hakimi and Schalke's Amine Harit, two players that have shown no fear so far in their young careers. Harit is especially threatening as he is coming off a fantastic debut season in the Bundesliga, playing a massive part in Schalke's Champions League qualification.

Head Coach:Hervé Renard

Population: 38 million

Appearances: 5

Best: Round of 16 (1986)

How they Qualified: Morocco were drawn in a very tough group in the final round of African World Cup qualification- the Ivory Coast, Pierre Emerick Aubameyang's Gabon and Mali. Incredibly the Moroccans conceded zero goals in a watertight defence. This allowed the team to be undefeated and qualify 3 points clear of Ivorians

Star Players: Medhi Benatia(Juventus), Hakim Ziyech(Ajax), Mbark Boussoufa(Al Jazira), Younes Belhanda(Galatasaray), Karim El Ahmadi(Feyenoord)

Wildcard: Ayoub El Kaabi- New to the international arena the forward will be a relatively unknown quantity heading into the World Cup. His amazing performances in the 2018 African Nations Championship, a local based African tournament, led Morocco to that title. His goal scoring record for club and country is unreal, so unreal that he was deemed undroppable by Renard. 

Legend:Ahmed Faras