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2026 FIFA World Cup
18JUL

Morocco meet France in 2022 rematch

2 min read
13:09UTC

Morocco and France will meet in Boston on Thursday 9 July, a rematch of the 2022 World Cup semi-final that France won 2-0.

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Key takeaway

Beating France on 9 July would let Morocco better its 2022 semi-final run without reaching the final.

Morocco and France were confirmed as the tournament's first quarter-final pairing on Saturday 4 July, set to meet at Boston's Gillette Stadium on Thursday 9 July 1. The tie rematches the 2022 World Cup semi-final, which France won 2-0, the closest an African or Arab nation has come to a World Cup final.

Morocco reached this stage by knocking the Netherlands out in a shoot-out before beating co-host Canada, while France came through Paraguay. Achraf Hakimi, born in Madrid and a club team-mate of several France players at Paris Saint-Germain, was jeered as Moroccan-French in that semi-final; the draw now hands Morocco the exact fixture that ended its run four years ago.

Morocco does not need a final to better 2022. Beating France in the game France used to eliminate it would carry more weight than any other route to the last four.

Deep Analysis

In plain English

FIFA fixes the World Cup's knockout bracket once, right after the group stage, and does not re-run the draw after every match. Each slot is filled by whichever team wins its earlier ties, but the pairings themselves do not change. That is why Morocco and France meeting in the quarter-final was not down to luck on 4 July. The pairing was already built into the bracket; Saturday's results only decided which two teams would show up to play it.

Deep Analysis
Root Causes

The pairing was locked in when the round-of-32 bracket was published on 24 June: the draw does not reseed after each round, so whichever team emerged from Morocco's designated slot and whichever emerged from France's slot were always going to meet in the first confirmed quarter-final, regardless of their actual round-of-16 opponents.

That bracket slot traces back further still, to the pot allocation made at the original group draw, which placed Morocco's and France's groups on bracket paths that intersect at the quarter-final stage rather than, for instance, the final, a placement fixed before either squad was even selected.

Sources:ESPN·CNN
Mentions:Morocco →France →Achraf Hakimi →Gillette Stadium →Madrid →Opta →Paris Saint-Germain →FIFA →Germany →Paraguay →Paris →Canada →Boston →Brazil →World Cup →Argentina →Netherlands →
First Reported In

Update #34 · Morocco knock out Canada, draw France again

ESPN· 5 Jul 2026
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Causes and effects
Caused by
Morocco knock Canada out of home Cup
Morocco's win over Canada fixed one half of the first confirmed quarter-final.
Occurred 4 Jul 2026
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Mbappe penalty puts France in last eight
France's win over Paraguay fixed the other half of the first confirmed quarter-final.
Occurred 4 Jul 2026
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This Event
Morocco meet France in 2022 rematch
Morocco can better its 2022 run by beating the side that ended it, without reaching a final.
Led to
Three World Cup co-hosts down to one
The Morocco-France quarter-final draw fixed part of the bracket referenced in the co-host attrition summary.
Occurred 6 Jul 2026
Read story →
Africa's last team out as France win
The 4 July draw fixed France against Morocco in the quarter-final.
Occurred 9 Jul 2026
Read story →
Different Perspectives
Spain
Spain
Spain now has their final opponent, referee, and match officials confirmed, with Slovenia's Slavko Vincic appointed to take charge of Sunday's game against Argentina. Their preparation is untouched by the disciplinary questions surrounding the other semi-finalists.
Falkland Islands Government Office
Falkland Islands Government Office
The Falkland Islands Government Office in London urged FIFA to 'sanction all behaviour of this nature', pressing its case as the population whose sovereignty status is being argued over by two national governments through a football tournament. Lowdown takes no position on the sovereignty question and reports it as a bilateral dispute.
FIFA
FIFA
FIFA's Disciplinary Committee opened a review of the Malvinas banner rather than issuing an immediate sanction, saying only that it is considering the circumstances, while staying silent on whether it will act on the Bellingham footage at all. It heads into Sunday's final still needing to resolve both questions on its own uneven enforcement record.
England and the UK Government
England and the UK Government
Downing Street and Business Secretary Peter Kyle pressed FIFA over the banner, Kyle calling it an 'egregious violation', while the Football Association itself lodged no complaint and now watches to see whether Bellingham is charged over the Barco footage before tonight's bronze match. A weakened, further depleted squad plays the third-place game with Reece James and Jordan Henderson both out.
Argentina
Argentina
Argentina's federation now faces a FIFA review over the Malvinas banner its supporters displayed after Wednesday's semi-final win, with the 2014 fine the only precedent for what follows. The tournament's individual prize race has turned in their favour too, Messi's four assists putting him ahead of Mbappe with two matches left to play.
France
France
France's tournament ended at the semi-final stage for the first time since 2010, beaten 2-0 by Spain in Arlington, and Kylian Mbappe's Golden Boot chances are reduced to Saturday's third-place game alone. The 2022 runners-up now play for bronze rather than a second straight final.