With its clay terraces, the ochre-coloured Stade El Harti in Marrakech’s bustling Gueliz district is a venue that neatly demonstrates the transformation in Moroccan football over the past decade.
Until 2010, it was the 10,000-capacity home to Kawkab Athletique Club de Marrakech, a middle-ranking side who could not wait to move to a 45,000-seater stadium on the other side of the city, built originally for the World Cup that summer which instead was hosted by South Africa.
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For the next eight years, a largely redundant El Harti felt like it belonged to a lost age. Yet as the Moroccan state realised how useful football could be and started investing heavily in
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