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Introduction
The final eight teams are set for the 2026 World Cup quarter-final round, which will begin on Thursday.
Argentina, Switzerland, Norway, England, Spain, Belgium, France and Morocco are the countries to watch out for in the next rounds of the competition.
The Atlas Lions, who edged Canada to secure a quarter-final spot, are the only African nation remaining in the tournament after Egypt lost to Argentina on Tuesday evening.
Claim
Reporting the teams’ qualification to the last eight, Vanguard Newspaper (online) claimed that Morocco’s advancement into the next round of the quarter-final on Saturday was its first time in history to do so.
In an online publication on 8 July, Vanguard claimed that the North African country made history by “advancing to the quarter-finals for the first time.”
Norway secured a place in the last eight after a stunning 2-1 victory over Brazil in the Round of 16.
The newspaper also claimed that Norway’s achievement marks the country’s maiden appearance in the World Cup quarter-finals and represents one of the biggest surprises of the tournament so far.
Verification
A simple finding by FACTWATCH Nigeria showed Morocco achieved the unexpected by reaching the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022™ semi-finals after beating both Spain and Portugal in the round of 16 and quarter-final matches.
Morocco were drawn in a tough group comprising Croatia, Belgium and Canada but dared to dream of reaching the round of 16 – but not a lot more.
Yet the Atlas Lions duly ripped up the script. They began their campaign with a draw against Croatia, before beating Belgium and Canada. By the time they faced Spain in the last 16, they were full of confidence and ultimately came out on top following Yassine Bounou’s penalty shootout heroics.
The fairy tale continued as they put Portugal to the sword in the quarter-final, their defensive discipline and resilience bringing a fourth clean sheet. With Youssef En-Nesyri’s winning goal, they became the first African and Arab team to reach a World Cup semi-final.
However, Morocco’s hopes in the 2022 World Cup were crushed by 2018 champions France in the semi-final.
Later, Croatia defeated Morocco 2-1 in the 2022 World Cup third-place play-off.
Meanwhile, when we also checked, we found out that Vanguard’s claim that this 2026 World Cup tournament was the first time Norway had progressed into the quarter-finals.
Verdict
Vanguard Newspaper’s claim that for the FIRST TIME in history, Morocco qualified for the quarter-finals at the 2026 World Cup tournament is FALSE, according to available records
