Thousands of jubilant fans took to the streets of Rabat to welcome Morocco’s World Cup football heroes back home on Tuesday.

Manager Walid Regragui and his players travelled from the airport to the capital on an open-top bus as people waved flags, set off fireworks, banged drums and chanted “ole, ole, ole, ole, Maghreb, Maghreb” — the Arabic name for Morocco.

The Atlas Lions became the first North African and first Arab nation to reach the semi-finals of the Fifa World Cup and attracted fans across the globe in support of their unexpected run.

“Morocco’s run in the 2022 Fifa World Cup will be remembered in the history books as one of the most exciting campaigns since the tournament’s inception,” café owner Reda Ghazi, 27, said. “It was the dream of every Moroccan to win something, especially because Morocco is a country where the passion for football is overwhelming.”

The royal court had said on Monday that King Mohammed VI would receive the team at the palace in Rabat.

Morocco finished fourth in the competition after losing to Croatia 1-2 in the third-place play-off on Saturday.

“I still can’t wrap my head around what happened in this World Cup,” added student Anour El Berkaoui, 23. “The team has now set the bar so high that we won’t be happy with anything less than winning the upcoming African Cup of Nations.”

The team also galvanized support across Africa. “As an African team, we broke a lot of records and made the whole continent proud,” Rabat resident Omar Zorgane said. “Morocco as a whole will gain a lot from this year’s World Cup, from tourism to getting the attention of other countries to possibly hosting one of the biggest tournaments in the world in the future,” Zorgane hoped.

Written with inputs from AP/PTI