Moroccan King Mohammed VI has congratulated the national soccer team for beating Spain to make a historic qualification to the quarterfinals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.

The Sovereign spoke on the phone with the President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, Fouzi Lekjaa, and the coach of the national team, Walid Regragui.

King Mohammed VI expressed his sincere congratulations to the players and to the technical and administrative staff who gave their best and achieved excellent performance in the major sporting competition.

The King hailed the historic performance of the members of the national team who have lived up to the expectations and aspirations of the large and valiant Moroccan public that supports them in Morocco, Qatar and around the world.

He called on them to stay the course in this competition, to continue to honour the national soccer and to carry high the flag of the Kingdom.

In a related development, heads of state have also congratulated King Mohammed VI in telephone calls following the qualification, on Tuesday, to the quarterfinals of the Moroccan soccer team.

King Mohammed VI received phone calls from the President of the State of Palestine, Mahmoud Abbas, and the President of the Republic of Gabon, Ali Bongo Ondimba.

The Sovereign also received a phone call from Prince Hassan Ibn Talal of Jordan.

In these calls, these heads of state and the Prince expressed their warm congratulations to the King following this historic achievement which makes Morocco the first Arab country to reach this stage in a World Cup.