Qatar 2022 World Cup: the particular team of Morocco, which with an endowment of children from the diaspora wants to continue making history

Songs, shouts, dances, rockets and horns accompanied the celebrations of tens of thousands of Moroccans after the victory on penalties against Spain who deposited for the first time the lions of the atlas (and for the first time against an Arab team) in the quarterfinals of a World Cup. The festivities weren’t limited to Rabat, Casablanca or Marrakech: there was also revelry in Madrid, Barcelona, ​​Paris, Milan, Turin, Lausanne, Brussels, Amsterdam and other European cities. A large part of this team was born in some of them, children of the diaspora who have chosen to represent the national team of their parents’ country..

In a combination in which none of its members last lived Morocco had progressed to a knockout instance in a World Cup (in Mexico 1986 they lost to Federal Germany in the Round of 16), 14 of the 26 chosen by Walid Regragui were born outside the 446,300 square kilometers of this country located in the extreme north-west of Africa, on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea. Seven flags are raised in this multinational field.

None of the other 31 selected who traveled to Qatar brought a team with so many players from other landsalthough the two following it in this list allow us to draw a common line: Tunisia Y Senegal, with 12, the vast majority born in France (10 and 9 respectively). The three fed on the generation of European children of migrants who arrived in the Old World mainly from the 80s.

A little bit more than 3.3 million Moroccans reside outside their country, according to the 2019 record (latest year recorded) by the World Data Portal on Migration of the International Organization for Migration, a body that is part of the United Nations system. That number is the same 8.8% of the population lives in the monarchy headed by King Mohamed VI (37.3 million).

It is home to the largest colony of Moroccan emigrants (there are 1.02 million). Francethe nation that flew the flags of freedom, equality and fraternitybut also the one who finished in the second round in his last two presidential elections a Marine Le Pen and her National Gatheringstraddling the recovery and adaptation of that xenophobic nonsense of the writer Renaud Camus on an alleged ethnic-cultural-religious “Great Replacement” underway in the country, of which the Maghrebs would, to a large extent, be responsible.

Among those Saharan migrants there is Radouane Saisswhose son Romain, born 32 years ago in Bourg-de-Péage (105 kilometers south of Lyon), proudly wears the captain’s belt of the African team, with which he played for the first time in 2012. Always on clay French, although extreme was born in Paris Sofiane Boufalwhich after marches and counter marches in 2015, has chosen to represent the homeland of its ancestors.

The banner of this team was much more determined from an early age, Ahraf HakimiBorn in Madrid, coached at Real Madrid and now Lionel Messi’s teammate at Paris Saint-Germain. When I played in the lower divisions of the Meringuereceived a proposal from Luigi de la Fontethen Spain youth coach (and, starting next Monday, conductor of the Major), to take a test at the Las Rozas property.

“I was there for a couple of days and I saw that it wasn’t my place, I didn’t feel at home. It wasn’t about anything in particular, but about what I felt, because it wasn’t what I sucked and lived at home, which is Arab culture, being Moroccan. I wanted to be here,” he said in an interview published this week in the Marca newspaper. In 2015, at the age of just 16, he received his first call-up to wear the Moroccan sub 20 shirt and a year later he began his career in the Majors.

Also in Spain, a country with the second Moroccan colony (712,000 inhabitants), the goalkeeper was born Munir Mohammedsurprise starter against Belgium: his arrival in the world championship took place in Melillaone of the two cities nestled in Moroccan territory that the monarchy has unsuccessfully claimed as its own since the declaration of independence in 1956 (the other is Ceuta).

With less spotlight on him than Hakimi, another of this team’s mainstay at the World Cup is Sofyan Amrabatone of four players born in the Netherlands, home to 180,000 Moroccans: the others are Hakim Ziech, Noussair Mazraoui Y Zakaria Abuhlal. Fiorentina’s tireless central midfielder followed in the footsteps of his older brother, Nordin (who plays for AEK in Greece), who wore the red-green shirt 64 times and played in the 2018 World Cup in Russia.

Like many of her peers, Sofyan was also faced with a dilemma which she easily resolved despite promising offers. In 2017, when he was shining at Feyenoord, he met Ruud Gullitthen assistant to the Dutch coach Dick Advocaat. The star tried to get him to play for the Orangebut failed. ‘Family pushes, that’s why I think she had no choice’Gullit resigned.

Instead, the decision was more complicated for Ziyechwho made his entire journey through the youth teams of Holland and was also called up by Guus Hiddink in May 2015, when he was playing for Twente, for a Major match against Latvia for Euro 2016 qualifiers, which he ultimately missed due to injury. In September of that year, when everything seemed to indicate otherwise, he chose to represent the country that his parents call “our home”.

The progressive relaxation of FIFA regulations related to the conditions of eligibility of a player to represent two selected teams has facilitated decisions such as Ziyech’s and also some much more urgent ones, such as the one he adopted just a couple of years ago. of months Anas Zarourywho, like his companions selim amallah, Ilia chair Y Bilal El Khannousswas born in Belgium, a land that welcomes 226,000 Moroccan migrants.

Zaroury, originally from Mechelen, trained in Waregem, made his First Division debut with Lommel, crossed over to Charleroi and in August crossed the North Sea to join English Second Division Burnley. He represented the Belgian youth team and came to play between 2021 and 2022, seven playoff games for the Under 21 European Championship which will take place next year in Romania and Georgia. Also in September he intervened in two friendlies against the under 23s of France and the Netherlands.

On November 13, the last round of the French championship before the stop imposed by the World Cup, the midfielder Amina Harit suffered a serious ligament injury in his left knee during the match between his club Olympique de Marseille and Monaco. That ailment has left Harit without a World Cup and Moroccan coach Walid Regragui with the obligation of prompt replacement. Then he decided to lend a hand to Zaroury with an almost irresistible proposition..

“I am very happy and honored to be able to defend the colors of Morocco in the best competition in the world. I want to thank my relatives, my family and Moroccan fans for their immense support. Without forgetting the coach, for his trust and for giving me the opportunity to make a childhood dream come true.”wrote the far left on his Instagram account after saying yes.

The 22-year-old has been a substitute in all four World Cup matches so far. In the second, against Belgium, he met at the Al Zumama stadium with Amadou Onana (was owner), Charles DeKetelaere (entered the second half) e lois openda (he was on the bench), who up until a couple of months ago were his teammates in the Sub-21’s red devils.

If the lions of the atlas they reached the quarterfinals of the World Cup was, in large measure, thanks to Yassine Bounouwhose hands stopped penalty shots by Charles Soler Y Sergio Busquet in the definition against Spain. The 31-year-old goalkeeper was born in Montreal, Canadaa country that welcomes only 74,000 Moroccans.

When he was eight, Bounou moved back to Casablanca with his parents, where he started playing football for Wydad. At the age of 20 he was recruited by the Atletico Madrid and then started a solid career in Spain (country of which he was the executioner on Tuesday) which today finds him defending the three sticks of Seville.

In Italy, a country that is home to 450,000 Moroccans, he was born walid cheddirawho has spent his entire career in football promotion clubs and currently plays for Bari. The excellent performances of the Apulian club earned him his first call-up in September for a couple of friendlies against Chile and Paraguay. “Playing for the national team is a unique emotion and an honour. I have never cheated and I have never hidden my origins, so this call has been an immense happiness for me and my family.”he then assured the center forward, who added his first 38 minutes to the World Cup in the duel against Spain.

The 14 foreign-born men Walid Regragui appealed to may seem like a rarity, but the Moroccan FA has spent years developing a policy to recruit and convince footballers who are children of migrant parents. In fact, the team that took part in the The World Cup in Russia consisted of 17 players from the diaspora. It is therefore no surprise that victories in Qatar are celebrated with such enthusiasm in Madrid, Paris or Brussels.