“‘A bad system will beat a good person every time.’ The words of Dr. Deming, a pioneer of systems thinking, perfectly encapsulate the problems faced by Moroccan football throughout the 2000s. At the turn of the century, on paper, it seemed like Moroccan football was in a pretty good place. In 1998, it was ranked 13th globally by FIFA. The team’s performance at the 1986 World Cup, when Morocco became the first African and Arab country to advance to the knockout rounds, was monumental. Despite these early successes, Morocco would subsequently not qualify for a World Cup for the next 20 years. By 2014, Moroccan football would hit rock bottom, with FIFA ranking it 81st in the world—a precipitous decline. …”
Africa Is a Country