Marrakech – After an important 3-2 win on Monday against tournament hosts Philippines, the Morocco Women’s futsal team faced their direct qualification rivals Poland today at Pasig City.
The scenarios were simple: a win would see Morocco progress to the quarter-finals while a draw or loss would see Poland progress instead.
The Polish team approached the game with a conservative gameplan, committing numbers behind the ball and resisting Morocco’s repeated attacks. Poland sought to attack mostly off Moroccan turnovers.
The Atlas Lionesses thought they had opened the scoring in the fourth minute of the game, after a series of deflections saw the ball land right at Jasmine Demraoui’s feet, who calmly finished past the Polish goalkeeper. The goal was, however, overturned because of an evident handball in the build-up, a decision that was confirmed after a video review.
Poland came closest to scoring in the first half at the 16th minute mark, when a powerful shot from Izabella Tracz went crashing on the crossbar. Despite good attacking spells from both sides, the first half of the contest eventually ended in a goalless stalemate.
The Lionesses finally broke the deadlock nine minutes into the second half, with Demraoui pouncing on a Polish defensive error. Through one goal, the 21-year-old cleverly slid the ball under the rushing-out Polish goalkeeper.
After taking the lead, it was Morocco’s turn to adopt a defensive approach. For the remainder of the match, the Atlas Lionesses held an impressive defensive stand, rebutting one Polish attack after another, even after Poland substituted in an extra attacker for their goalkeeper in a last-ditch effort to equalize.
History keeps wearing Moroccan colors. 🇲🇦
Morocco are qualified to the #FutsalWWC quarter-finals. 👏 pic.twitter.com/PDS8Jr7j5B
— CAF Women’s Football (@CAFwomen) November 27, 2025
Today’s victory takes the Atlas Lionesses’ points tally to six, and guarantees them at least second place in Group A. This ensures qualification to the World Cup quarter-finals, set to kick-off on December 1.
Adil Sayeh, Morocco’s head coach, reacted in the post-match press conference to his team’s win, praising his player’s performances.
“The girls deserve it. There’s nothing to say. You see what they’ve done against the fourteenth ranked team in the world, against experienced Futsal players,” Sayeh said. “It’s not easy as a team founded fifteen months ago, with all football players. I really want to thank them for their effort and perseverance.”
The Lionesses will discover their quarter-finals opponents tomorrow when Group B action concludes.
