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In 1976, Ethiopia hosted the tenth edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the football championship of Africa. This tournament had a special format, with the field of eight teams split into two groups of four.
The Moroccan national football team was part of the second group, alongside Nigeria, Sudan, and Zaire (modern-day DR Congo). The Atlas Lions tied in on their first game against Sudan and won their second match against Zaire. They defeated the Nigerian team, scoring three goals.
Morocco topped its group with five points, ahead of the Nigerian team, which collected four points, while the Sudanese team, which ranked third, was eliminated with two points, alongside Zaire, which finished in last place, with one point.
In addition to Morocco and Nigeria, the Egyptian national team and the Guinean national team qualified from the first group.
Miraculous survival
After that, the Moroccan team had to fly from the city of Dire Dawa to the capital, Addis Ababa, but the plane suffered a serious malfunction that forced its captain to make a U-turn with great difficulty and land at the Dire Dawa airport.
Moroccan midfielder Abdellah Tazi spoke about the incident in media statements, saying, «As soon as the plane took off, and after a few minutes, fire broke out in its right engine». «I was looking out the window and saying, ‘fire...fire.’ Everyone was in shock from the tragedy», he recalled.
Some of the players began reciting Quranic verses, thinking that their demise was near. «But the pilot was able to return to the airport to land before the plane completely crashed, and there were ambulances and firefighters waiting for us at the stairs», he added.
«The state of silence turned into a state of great protest and dissatisfaction from everyone. In fact, everyone decided that we should boycott the tournament and return to Morocco... We spent an entire day at the airport. It was a disastrous night and a nightmare that made us not even want to play football again», he regretted.
Single title
The next day, the Moroccan players were convinced not to withdraw from the competition and went to the country’s capital, Addis Ababa. The final round was held in a single-group system for the first time in the history of the competition, and a four-way tournament was organized between the teams to determine the champion.
The Moroccan team won over its Egyptian counterpart by two goals to one, then won with the same score over the Nigerian team, and tied in the last match with the Guinean. Hence ranking first in its group with five points, ahead of the Guinean team, which got a total of four points.
Thus, the Moroccan team won its first Africa Cup of Nations title. The Moroccan national team delegation returned to the country and was welcomed at Nouaceur Airport by important figures and senior officials. It headed directly to Casablanca, where it was received by the then Crown Prince Moulay Mohammed, and that day became a bank holiday.
The Moroccan national team goalkeeper at the time, Hamid Hazzaz, recalled memories of the tournament, telling media that «the Royal football federation allocated to us at the time 10,000 dirhams for each player as a grant for winning the Continental Cup, and a car that we have not received yet». «They said the cars will be parked outside of the airport and we will get it as soon as we land but that did not happen», he argued.
