Morocco dumped the Netherlands out of the 2026 World Cup in a penalty shootout after an epic last-32 tie. The result split the night between joy in Amsterdam and trouble in The Hague, with the match turning into a flashpoint beyond the pitch.
Amsterdam Celebrates at 6am
By 6am, celebrations had already started among the Moroccan community in Amsterdam after Morocco beat Ronald Koeman’s team. The win also closed the door on the Netherlands in the tournament, and it did so in the most unforgiving way possible: a shootout.
Three Morocco squad members were born in the Netherlands, and the match carried that layer throughout. Noussair Mazraoui, Sofyan Amrabat and Anass Salah-Eddine chose Morocco, which helped make the game feel personal on both sides of the border.
The Hague Sees Bottles
An hour after the match, NOS reported that police in The Hague had been pelted with bottles and fireworks. Omroep West said at least 10 people believed to be Morocco fans were arrested in The Hague after attacks on the police, while Algemeen Dagblad said four Morocco fans were arrested in Rotterdam.
That sequence turned a football result into a public-order issue in two Dutch cities. For people following the match from Amsterdam and The Hague, the immediate next development was not another kick, but arrests and police reports.
Afellay, Wilders and X
Before the game, Ron Jans asked Ibrahim Afellay, “So who will you support, then?” on Dutch national television. Afellay, who was capped 53 times for the Netherlands, explained why he backed Morocco, bringing his own split identity into the discussion before the shootout began.
Geert Wilders later used X to congratulate Morocco on its triumph. That came after a far different tone from 2014, when he promised to reduce the number of Moroccans in the Netherlands, and after a post from two weeks ago in which he used an anti-Islam insult in response to a picture of Morocco players praying on the pitch. Before the match, he also posted an AI picture on X showing himself as a referee giving a red card to a Morocco player.
Morocco’s win now stands as more than a last-32 tie decided from the spot. It left Ronald Koeman’s team out, sent celebrations into Amsterdam, and put the reaction in The Hague under the same spotlight as the football itself. The shootout did the rest.
