Morocco's female football trailblazers on the brink of Olympics history

Last September, the most valuable strike force in women’s football landed in Morocco and abruptly, brutally dampened local expectations. Zambia were in town, and by the end of 180 minutes of sparring, spread across friendly matches in Casablanca and Rabat, they had racked up eight goals.

The Morocco national team were first softened up with a 2-0 defeat. Four days later, at the Moulay Hassan stadium, the Atlas Lionesses were crushed 6-2. There were hat-tricks for both Rachael Kundananji and Barbra Banda, strikers who have set a new bar for how much the monied upper echelons of the club game are prepared to invest in a player.

It was a chastening week. Morocco were still fresh from making history at last summer’s Women’s World Cup, the first Mena team to reach the knockout phase at that tournament, and the losses to Zambia would contribute to wholesale reflection on how much progress still needed to be made.

There were changes to personnel. Head coach Reynald Pedros was relieved of his duties, the Moroccan Football Federation replaced him with Jorge Vilda, a manager with a mixed reputation. Vilda had guided his native Spain to triumph at the 2023 World Cup but had some very public clashes with players on the way to that success.

Seven months on from the 6-2 hammering in Rabat, the decision to change coach looks close to being vindicated. On Tuesday, Morocco face Zambia at home again, with the stakes a good deal higher than they were for September’s friendlies: a place at the summer Olympic Games is on the line.

No women’s football team from North Africa or the Middle East have reached that event. The Atlas Lionesses are on the brink, again, of a major landmark and they lead this play-off tie 2-1 from Friday’s first leg in