Thousands of Moroccans Celebrate Morocco’s World Cup Soccer Success in Italy
At the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, Morocco shocked the soccer world when they eliminated Spain to reach the 2022 FIFA World Cup quarterfinals with right-back Achraf Hakimi scoring in a penalty shootout following a 0-0 draw in Education City.
According to a 2020 article, Moroccans are the largest non-EU immigrant community in Italy. Immigrants from Morocco live predominantly in the Italian northern regions of Lombardy, Piedmont, and Emilia Romagna. Moroccans began immigrating to Italy in the 1980s and reached a population of 346,000 people between 2001 and 2012. According to the same study, foreigners living in Italy make up 8.7 percent of the population. Romanians are the largest group, followed by Albanians, Moroccans, and Chinese.
In the 2022 FIFA World Cup, Morocco defeated Belgium 2–0 and drew with 2018 runners-up Croatia to the top of their group undefeated, and made the quarter-finals for the first time in their history after defeating Spain in a penalty shootout, making them the first African nation to do so since Ghana in 2010, and the first Arab nation ever to do so.
Morocco previously made a historic run in the 1986 World Cup, becoming the first African national team to finish top of a group at the World Cup. However, they narrowly lost to eventual runners-up West Germany 1–0.
Morocco is the last African team standing in the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. They will face Portugal in their quarterfinals match-up on Saturday, December 10, 2022.
source: https://www.arabnews.com/node/1748866/world