Morocco will end the 2026 FIFA World Cup as the world’s sixth-ranked national team, consolidating the position the Atlas Lions climbed to during the tournament and finishing less than one ranking point behind Brazil.
The final standings, confirmed after Spain defeated Argentina to win its second World Cup title on Sunday, place La Roja at the top of the FIFA rankings with 1,995.88 points.
Argentina remains second at 1,970.37, followed by France (1,948.97), England (1,922.83), Brazil (1,804.92), and Morocco, which sits just 0.93 points behind the five-time world champions.
The narrow gap highlights Morocco’s growing stature on the international stage. The two sides met during the group stage in New York, sharing a 1-1 draw that reinforced the Atlas Lions’ ability to compete with football’s traditional heavyweights.
The rise has been steady throughout the tournament.
Morocco entered the World Cup ranked eighth before climbing to seventh during the build-up after the Netherlands’ home defeat to Algeria in a friendly on June 4.
The Atlas Lions then moved into sixth after the Democratic Republic of Congo’s victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s Portugal. Their win over Scotland in Boston briefly lifted them to fifth—the highest FIFA ranking ever attained by an African nation—before subsequent results pushed them back to sixth.
Following their quarter-final defeat to France, Mohamed Ouahbi’s men settled into sixth place, where they remain at the close of the tournament.
The latest ranking extends a remarkable upward trajectory.
Morocco was ranked 11th after its historic run to the semi-finals of the 2022 World Cup, having stood 28th the previous year. Four years later, another deep World Cup campaign has lifted the Atlas Lions five places higher.
The longer-term transformation is even more striking. Since 2017, Morocco has climbed from 40th to sixth in the FIFA rankings, gaining nearly 49 ranking points over the period.
