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Morocco face France in Thursday's World Cup quarterfinal in Boston.
It's a meeting loaded with history: the country they're playing once ruled them, and the melody of the anthem sung before kickoff was written by a French military officer during that very era.
Morocco have already broken new ground just by getting here. Their win over Canada in the Round of 16 made them the first African nation to reach consecutive World Cup quarterfinals, following their run to the semifinals in 2022. Before the game, though, the focus turns to a stadium ritual with its own layered story: the Cherifian Anthem, Morocco's national anthem.
Here's what the anthem says, who wrote it, and the history behind it.
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Morocco national anthem lyrics in English
Below is a translation of Morocco's national anthem into English:
Fountain of Freedom
Source of Light
Where sovereignty and safety meet,
Safety and sovereignty may you ever combine!
You have lived among nations
With title sublime,
Filling each heart,
Sung by each tongue,
Your champion has risen
And answered your call.
For your soul and your body,
The victory they have conquered.
In my mouth and in my blood
Your breezes have stirred both light and fire.
Up! my brethren,
Strive for the highest.
We call to the world
That we are here ready.
We salute as our emblem
God, Homeland, and King.
That closing line, "God, Homeland, and King" ("Allah, Al-Watan, Al-Malik" in Arabic), is Morocco's national motto. It shows up on the country's coat of arms as well as the anthem itself.
What does 'Cherifian' mean?
The anthem's name comes from "Cherif," or "Sharif" in Arabic, a title for a leader or ruler. In Islamic tradition, a Sharif is a descendant of the Prophet Muhammad through his daughter Fatima, though the word is also used more broadly for anyone of noble or preeminent standing. Despite the similarities, it shares no etymological history with the English word "sheriff".
Morocco's ruling Alaouite dynasty traces its own lineage back to the Prophet, so the anthem's title is a direct nod to the monarchy at the country's centre, reinforced by that closing line about God, Homeland and King.
Morocco's national anthem and its French history
The anthem's backstory is tangled up with the same colonial period Morocco's soccer team is now, in a sense, playing back against.
France established a protectorate over Morocco in 1912 and ruled the country for 44 years, until independence in 1956. It was during that period, and by a French officer, that the anthem's melody was actually composed — a detail that tends to surprise people once they learn it. Only after independence, and only once Morocco needed something to represent the nation at a World Cup, did Moroccan words get attached to that French-written tune.
It adds an extra layer to Thursday's quarterfinal in Boston. Whatever happens on the pitch, the anthem playing beforehand carries both nations' fingerprints on it, whether viewers realise it or not.
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