There are 14 players in the Moroccan national team who were born outside the country they currently represent. This is the highest figure in the entire World Cup, ahead of Tunisia and Senegal, both with 12. Of those 14, only Bono, the Canadian-born Sevilla goalkeeper, did not spend his first days in European countries. Belgium (4), the Netherlands (4), France (2), Spain (2) and Italy (1) are the countries of the old continent where the other 13 players come from.
Morocco attended the 1998 World Cup with only two athletes not born in the country. Today, 24 years later, that number has increased sevenfold. This is due to the great work of the Moroccan federation in finding the children of immigrants, as was the case with Hakimi, who was followed by scouts from the North African team when he was 11 years old.
Morocco will take part in the quarter-finals for the first time and play Portugal this Saturday at 15:00.
Author: Gonzalo Batista as well as Joao Moniz
Source: CM Jornal
I’m Dave Martin, and I’m an experienced journalist working in the news industry. As a part of my work, I write for 24 News Reporters, covering mostly sports-related topics. With more than 5 years of experience as a journalist, I have written numerous articles on various topics to provide accurate information to readers.