The long rise of the Moroccan women’s football team

This chapter explores the long rise of the Moroccan women’s football team to the world stage, considering the political and cultural factors that serve to contextualise the team’s recent ascendancy. First, the decades-long effort of girls and women to be included in football is exemplified through a first-hand account by one of the authors, Nicole Matuska, who worked from 2006 to 2016 alongside her Moroccan counterparts to support access for girls and women to the world’s game. We then use Nicole’s narrative to discuss the discrepancies between official support for the women’s game and the very real adverse local realities facing girls and women wanting to play football in a country continually negotiating the tensions between social continuity and cultural change.