Belgium’s Soccer Talent Drain: Why Dual-Nationals Choose Morocco Over Red Devils

"There is no structure, no policy around these dual nationals who could nevertheless bring a lot to the Belgian selection. [...] The problem is that you have to take the step, here at the Belgian Union, you have to manage to understand these profiles and what they can bring to our country. I think the Belgian selection doesn’t need these profiles to be strong, but it would be much stronger with them," said Khalid Zimbi in an interview with RTBF, stating that he is not aware of any project that would be implemented in this direction. "Unless a project is in the works and the Belgian Union staff itself is not yet aware of it, nothing has yet been put in place by the UB for dual nationals."

The Belgian Union scout also mentions a misunderstanding on both the part of the coaches and the players. "On the one hand, given the way the teams in the Belgian championship evolve from a technical and tactical point of view, we understand that the coaches do not have a very positive idea of the profiles of the dual nationals, who are mainly Maghrebi profiles, and even mostly Moroccans," he explained, adding that these players are often smaller, thinner, more technical, they often have a less imposing physique, they are less tough in the duels even if they often read the game very well.

As a result, "this profile does not give confidence to the majority of coaches in the formation of the team. On the other hand, the accumulation of refusals of this ’profile’ means that many players think there is a ’football xenophobia’ for this type of profile. And so as soon as they have a way out, the possibility of representing another country, they make that choice" even though they have "gone through all the youth categories." To address this problem, Khalid calls for giving dual nationals breakthroughs of motivation to feel that they are receiving consideration, and for bringing coaches to follow in the footsteps of Jacky Mathijssen, who "gave a lot of importance and offered many playing minutes to these dual nationals."