Moroccan Defender Abdelkabir Abqar Aims for National Team Call-Up

Abdelkabir Abqar is an important cog in the Alavés team and the defender with the most minutes this season. With his great physical form and technical abilities, he has earned the trust of coach García Plaza. The central defender dreams "of being an international with Morocco and of being able to be a starter," he said in an interview with Cadena SER.

"I think that at 23, I may have taken a long time to get out of the reserve team. The truth is that I’ve always had confidence in myself. The coach told me he wasn’t going to look at age, only if I was capable of delivering. I arrived at the pre-season after almost a year without playing because, with the first team, I was just training, but I didn’t have any minutes. I think I’ve gained the necessary experience to be competitive and know how to stop opposing attackers," he added.

The young player recounts that he "started playing football in the street. I left my hometown when I was eleven and studied in the capital, Rabat. It’s very difficult to devote yourself to football and be able to leave Morocco. We generally have a difficult childhood and it is more difficult for us to prove whether we are worth it or not. I arrived in Spain without understanding the language. I learned it without studying, by talking with my friends. The fact that Vitoria is a small town allowed me to focus on football, to be alone and to be able to mature as a person."