Biggest World Cup Prize Awaits Morroco

Biggest World Cup Prize Awaits Morroco

After his team defeated Portugal 1-0 to become the first African country to reach the FIFA World Cup semi-finals, Morocco’s senior football coach, Walid Regragui, insisted that the Atlas Lions’ victory was not a miracle but the result of hard work.

Speaking at the post match late on Saturday night, Regragui said for a team that played Croatia, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal without letting in a goal, it was unfair to call Morocco’s victory over Cristiano Ronaldo’s team a miracle.

“It’s no miracle. Many will say it’s a miracle, especially in Europe, but we’ve played Croatia, Belgium, Spain, and Portugal without letting in a goal,” the 47-year-old insisted after the match.

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The Moroccan gaffer attributed the fairy-tale run of the Atlas Lions at Qatar 2022 to hard-work and careful planning.  “That’s not a miracle, it’s the result of hard work. We’ve made our people happy and proud, the continent happy and proud, and so many people around the world happy.”

“When you watch Rocky (movie), you support him because of his heart and commitment. We are the Rocky of this World Cup,” stressed the clean-shaven coach.

Now, even if Morocco fail at the semi-final hurdle against defending champions France on Wednesday, the Atlas Lions are guaranteed to return to Rabat with a cool $25,000 (about N11.1billion) as prize money from Qatar 2022. This is the biggest payday in African football.

Their worst classification at the Qatar 2022 will be the losing of the Third-place match which will rank the team as the fourth overall at this tournament. And the prize money for the fourth placed team is $25 million (which is about N11.1billion).

What they will earn here in the Semi Final and third place match (that is if they fail to reach the final match is more than the prize money paid to Italy at the 2006 World Cup in Germany.