The Morocco national football team, nicknamed Lions de l'Atlas (Atlas Lions), is the national team of Morocco and is controlled by the Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football. They were the first African team to qualify directly to the World Cup finals, as they did in 1970. They were the first African team to win a group at the World Cup, which they did in 1986, finishing ahead of Portugal, Poland, and England. They were also the first African team to make it to second round barely losing to eventual runner-ups West Germany 1-0 in 1986. They also came within two minutes of moving out of the group stage of the the 1998 World Cup, Kjetil Rekdal's late winning goal for Norway against Brazil eliminating them.Morocco won the African Nations Cup once, in 1976.
