Morocco will compete at the fourth Youth Olympic Games, Dakar 2026, with a delegation of 39 athletes across 17 sports, according to the Moroccan National Olympic Committee (CNOM). The Games are scheduled to run from October 31 to November 13.
The Moroccan delegation will compete in athletics, beach volleyball, boxing, breaking, road cycling, fencing, futsal, artistic gymnastics, judo, beach wrestling, swimming, skateboarding, equestrian sports, taekwondo, triathlon, sailing and wushu taolu, the CNOM said.
Futsal will have the largest Moroccan contingent, with 10 players, followed by athletics with five athletes and beach wrestling with four. Beach volleyball, boxing, breaking, artistic gymnastics, swimming and sailing will each have two representatives.
Road cycling, fencing, judo, skateboarding, equestrian sports, taekwondo, triathlon and wushu taolu will each be represented by one athlete.
For participation in the Games, the International Olympic Committee (IOC), working with international sports federations and the Dakar 2026 organizing committee, adopted a new quota allocation system.
Unlike the traditional Olympic Games, no dedicated qualification events were held for this edition, in order to spare athletes and federations additional travel and expenses.
Places were allocated according to six criteria: universality, continental representation, strong African representation, representation of the host country, sporting performance and gender equality.
Each international federation also set its own sporting and eligibility criteria, based in particular on results at national, continental or international competitions. Only one quota per country was allowed in each event.
In line with these rules, the CNOM registered athletes nominated by Morocco’s royal sports federations, taking into account the requirements set by the IOC and the international federations.
The Dakar 2026 Youth Olympic Games will be the first Olympic sporting event to be held on the African continent. Over 14 days, around 2,700 young athletes from approximately 150 countries will compete in 25 sports.
Events will take place mainly across three locations: Dakar, Diamniadio and Saly.
