Morocco’s Atlas Lionesses claim Taranto bronze after beating Slovenia

Morocco’s Under-17 women secured the country’s second football bronze medal at the 2026 Mediterranean Games in Taranto with a 3-1 victory over Slovenia on Monday morning.

The result came a day after Morocco’s men’s Under-20 team won the bronze-medal match against Italy, completing a notable double for the country in the football tournaments.

Nessma Mouradi gave Morocco an early lead in the women’s third-place play-off when she struck in the 14th minute. Slovenia remained within reach until the closing stages, but Anissa Hamdani extended Morocco’s advantage in the 74th minute before Laila Boushaba added a third six minutes from time.

Slovenia scored a late consolation, but Morocco held on to take the bronze medal and round off an impressive campaign for Youness Rabie’s side.

Morocco had begun the tournament in strong fashion, beating Slovenia 4-0 in their opening match. They then surrendered a two-goal lead in a 2-2 draw with Portugal, before responding with another 4-0 victory, this time against Kosovo.

That result set up a decisive final group match against hosts Italy. However, a 3-1 defeat left Morocco third in the five-team group with seven points, one behind both Portugal and Italy. The two European sides went on to contest the gold medal, while Morocco were left to compete for bronze.

The medal caps a highly successful tournament for the Morocco Under-17 women, who now have another major assignment on home soil later this year.

Morocco will host the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup for a second consecutive time from 17 October to 7 November 2026. The North African country also staged the global tournament last year.

In that edition, Morocco lost to Brazil and Italy but defeated Costa Rica to finish among the best third-placed teams in the group stage. Their run ended in the last 16, where they were beaten 6-1 by Korea DPR, who went on to win the competition.

The Atlas Lionesses will be aiming to improve on that performance when the tournament returns to Morocco in the autumn.