Morocco got FIFA permission to select Fulham defender Issa Diop and Ajax midfielder Rayane Bounida among seven players recruited this month by the 2022 World Cup semifinalist ahead of the next edition in North America, and 16 in total since last March, ESPN reports.
The 29-year-old Diop was a France youth and under-21 international and Bounida is among six players aged 20 or under changing eligibility this month to represent Morocco after playing youth games for Belgium or the Netherlands.
All have direct family ties to Morocco that allow them within FIFA rules to change national eligibility, typically when players have not played a senior competitive game for the first country they represented.
Diop and Bounida are in new coach Mohamed Ouahbi’s squad for World Cup warmup games against Ecuador on Friday in Madrid, and Paraguay on Tuesday in Lens, France.
At the 2026 World Cup Morocco is in a group with Brazil, Scotland and Haiti playing games, respectively, near New York, Boston and in Atlanta.
Morocco gets direct entry to the 2030 tournament as a co-host with Spain and Portugal, plus single games to be played in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay.
Also Read: Guardiola Reacts To CAF’s Decision To Award Morocco AFCON Title
The Morocco federation, under the leadership of Fouzi Lekjaa, an increasingly influential figure in soccer politics, has actively recruited players from a diaspora in Europe.
The squad which made World Cup history in Qatar as the first semifinalist from Africa included stars such as Hakim Ziyech and Sofyan Amrabat who had been Netherlands youth internationals.
The eligibility changes FIFA approved in March include Bounida and Genk midfielder Saif Eddien Lazar who had represented Belgium.
Players switching to Morocco from the Netherlands were Benjamin Khaderi and Sami Bouhoudane, both aged 18 from PSV Eindhoven, 20-year-old Utrecht defender Oualid Agougil and 18-year-old Ayoud Ouarghi from Feyenoord.
FIFA also approved nine more players changing eligibility from March to December last year, from France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Norway.
3 Comments
Our dual nationality players would say,no rush in making decisions,l want focus on my club football.But jump at the first opportunity of playing for their country of birth!
We don’t play like that in our team.
A serious nff with data driven analysis would have realized the team’s low chances of winning an average team in competitive matches without the presence of Nwabali, Bassey, Ndidi, Lookman, and Osi9 in the first eleven.
Players like Ejuke, Onuachu, Chukwueze, and Uzoho are adding nothing to this team..
Besides, based on previous analysis on this platform,the average age of the current first eleven will be over 30 or over by the next WC.
The nff wont allow new players in a Wcup year because by now the coach will be left to choose the 13-15 Wcup ready players and their agents fill the remaining slots with highest bidders..
Have you ever wondered why the current setup is still dominated by same set of players that failed to qualify for 2 consecutive WC ?
By now a serious organization and manager should be working on a new set of top 15 players that can cover each position.
Get untested players that did really well in the European competitions, those playing regularly in top leagues and top divisions and use the coming break to evaluate them.