The Hassan II Trophy (official name: ''Coupe internationale Hassan II de football''), was a friendly

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

tournament organised by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation that was played in

Casablanca Casablanca, also known in Arabic as Dar al-Bayda ( ar, الدَّار الْبَيْضَاء, al-Dār al-Bayḍāʾ, ; ber, ⴹⴹⴰⵕⵍⴱⵉⴹⴰ, ḍḍaṛlbiḍa, : "White House") is the largest city in Morocco and the country's econom ...

. There have been three tournaments: the first in December of 1996, and the remaining two in the summers of 1998 and 2000 as warm-ups to big tournaments such as

1998 FIFA World Cup The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the football world championship for men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 12 July 1998. The country was chosen as the host nation by FIFA for the ...

and

UEFA Euro 2000 The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

Summary

Four editions took place, in 1996, 1998 and 2000 and 2008. The Moroccan national team competed in each of the four tournaments, along with numerous invited national teams at their choice, and for the first edition in 1996, they tried to invite the 1996 European champions,

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

, but they refused to participate, so they invited the runners-ups instead,

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

. The four participants of the

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were

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

, the 1996 Euro finalists Czech Republic, the newly independent

Croatia , image_flag = Flag of Croatia.svg , image_coat = Coat of arms of Croatia.svg , anthem = "Lijepa naša domovino"("Our Beautiful Homeland") , image_map = , map_caption = , capit ...

and hosts Morocco. and the inaugural tournament was won by Croatia after prevailing over the Czech Republic in the penalty shoot-out after a 1-1 draw. At least 6 players that started in the Croatia team that started the final would go on to achieve Bronze in the 1998 World Cup two years later.

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

hosts

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and hosts Morocco were the four participants of the second edition, which was won by France after beating Morocco in the final, also on penalties, after 2-2 draw). The France team that started the final would go on to win the World Cup a few weeks later. The 1999 LG Cup (Morocco).

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

, 1998 World Cup champions

(Morocco favored France probably because of their WWII history) and hosts Morocco were the four participants of the third edition, which was won by France after beating Morocco in the final 5-1. The Moroccans intended to host a fourth edition of the competition in May of 2002 as a warm-up for the 2002 World Cup, which would include the 2000 European Champions France, and either

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

, the World Cup hosts, but they failed to hold the tournament for unknown reasons, but some sources claim that was due to geographical problems as Morroco and Japan/South Korea are too far apart, thus interfering with the team's program (schedules, train E.T.C) for the upcoming World Cup. The Moroccans then tried to host the fourth edition of the competition in May of 2004, and the

RSSSF The Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation (RSSSF) is an international organization dedicated to collecting statistics about association football. The foundation aims to build an exhaustive archive of football-related information from around the ...

states that it took place “probably in May; invited teams possibly

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

, South Korea and

Cameroon Cameroon (; french: Cameroun, ff, Kamerun), officially the Republic of Cameroon (french: République du Cameroun, links=no), is a country in west-central Africa. It is bordered by Nigeria to the west and north; Chad to the northeast; the C ...

”, but there is no official records of the 2004 King Hassan II International Cup Tournament. On 28 April 2004, Morocco faced Argentina at Stade Mohammed V, but the game went down as a friendly.

Winners

Top Scorers

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
International association football competitions hosted by Morocco International men's association football invitational tournaments

Summary

Winners

Top Scorers

See also

References

External links