.▪️Morocco, represented by 13 boxers – eight male and five female – trained in Rabat for two months and had a training camp in Thailand for 15 days under their Cuban head coach Carlos Maestre
▪️The triumph in Bangkok is far from coincidental. It is the result of a deliberate, well-funded strategy directed by the Royal Moroccan Boxing Federation (FRMB) under the leadership of President Abdeljaouad Belhaj who has been at the helm for 24 years now. He is ably supported by the national government which has invested a lot of money in their preparations and overall development of boxing in Morocco with more emphasis on junior and youth program.
March 16, 2026
Amidst the humid, electrifying atmosphere of the Huamark Indoor Stadium in Bangkok, Thailand, a new generation of Moroccan boxers have announced their arrival on the world stage, emerging as the top African nation at the 2026 World Boxing Futures Cup U19.
With ferocious dedication, skill and tenacity, the Moroccan youth team secured four hard-fought bronze medals, solidifying the North African kingdom’s reputation as a growing powerhouse in global amateur boxing and Kings of Africa’s amateur boxing.
Among a crowded field of international talent, the Moroccan delegation showcased exceptional technique and strong winning mentality.
Here is the quartet of bronze medallists who shone in Bangkok: Marouane Jaafari (men’s 70 kg), Mohamed Amine (men’s +91 kg), Rihab Hamdoune (women’s 51 kg) and Aya Essoubai (women’s 65 kg).
While many African boxers faced early elimination, Moroccan boxers showed grit and resilience, with four boxers advancing to the semifinals, one of them without breaking a sweat.
The triumph in Bangkok is far from coincidental. It is the result of a deliberate, well-funded strategy directed by the Royal Moroccan Boxing Federation (FRMB) under the dynamic leadership of President Abdeljaouad Belhaj who has been at the helm for 24 years now. He is ably supported by the national government which has invested a lot of money in their preparations for major international tournaments with more emphasis on junior and youth program.
Success in amateur boxing, especially at the U19 level, requires extensive international exposure and specialized training camps. The team’s preparation emphasized intensive, long-term training regimens that allow young talents to develop the necessary endurance and tactical awareness to compete with boxing powerhouses like Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, India, and the USA.
“Our team trained in Rabat for two months and then travelled to Thailand for a 15-day training camp,” Nabil Hilmi, the The Royal Moroccan Federation Vice- President who is also in charge of national teams told boxersworld.co.ke in an interview.
“I can attribute our success to thorough preparations, discipline of our staff and boxers, sound management of our federation plus massive support from the government which funded our preparations and participation in the tournament,” said an excited Nabil, adding: “We have also invested in top-tier coaching staff led by our Cuban head coach and modern tactical training that has yielded a new generation of boxers who are not only mentally strong but technically superb, our team was chosen in the national championship of the 2024/2025 season, we’re normally very thorough in the selection of our national teams from junior, youth and elite level.”
Heading the technical team in Bangkok was Cuba’s Carlos Maestre who is the overall head coach assisted by Mochhabi Mohamed, Najim Abdelaoui and Zahra Zahraoui.
This success follows a dominant pattern set by Moroccan boxing in recent years, including clean sweeps at African Military Championships and twice winning the African Elite Men’s and Women’s Boxing Championships in 2023 and 2024 in Yaounde, Cameroon, and Kinshasa, DR Congo respectively.
At the world stage, Morocco has twice won world titles through the celebrated and charismatic heavyweight Khadija Mardi and stylish showboating bantamweight Widad Bertal.
By topping the African medal table at the Futures Cup U19, Morocco, which was represented by 13 boxers – eight male and five female – has sent a clear message: their focus on nurturing talent from a young age is paying off. As the medalists return home, they do so not just with four bronze medals in their hands, but with valuable experience that sets the foundation for the 2026 Youth Olympics in Dakar and beyond.
Unlike the Sub-Saharan African teams which hardly bother on the dismal performance of their teams at the big stage and funding by the government for foreign trips treated as a favour, the Moroccan federation and the government take keen interest on the results of their teams and conduct a postmortem after every international tournament.
For instance in 2024, the Moroccan federation dismissed its entire technical staff, including National Technical Director Othmane Fadli, following the national team’s poor performance at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
The decision was prompted by the failure of the male team to qualify any boxers for the Olympics and the inability of the female team to secure medals, despite extensive support and preparations from the government.
FRMB dissolved the entire technical management team and fired the coaching staff, marking a significant immediate overhaul of the national team’s management.
While three female boxers, Khadija El Mardi, Widad Bertal and Yasmine Mouttaki qualified, none brought home a medal. The male team did not manage to qualify a single boxer for the Paris Games.
The Federation subsequently established a provisional national commission to oversee team activities, and sought for international applications for a new National Technical Director to overhaul the program for the 2028 Olympic Games in the United States.
That’s how the current overall head coach from Cuba, Carlos Maestre and his team, was brought on board in a drastic shake up of the technical staff.
Against this background, most Sub-Saharan African governments will have to change tact and adopt a hands-on approach on their national boxing teams and stop managing boxing from the terraces. Otherwise they will still lag behind their North African rivals and continue stargazing at major international events unless one or two naturally gifted boxers spring up to bolster their teams.
