Moroccan Striker Faces Racist Abuse in Dutch League, Plans Exit

Bilal Ould-Chikh can’t take the racist and Islamophobic insults he’s been subjected to anymore. In an interview with NU.nl, he says he has endured shocking insults this season. "It happens everywhere. At ADO Den Haag stadium, at FC Den Bosch. There, I was insulted again earlier this season, being called a ’dirty cancerous Muslim’." In Emmen too, where he had scored the winning goal last season, he didn’t escape racist insults. "After the match, an older man came up to me. ’Nice goal, shame it was scored by someone of your kind,’ he told me," recounts the 27-year-old player. "His friends immediately told him he was crazy. But still: how can someone say something so vile?"

On Monday evening, the Moroccan striker had a great game in Eredivisie with Volendam. But in this interview, he felt that "it’s more important to talk about discrimination," due to its impact on his psychology. At the end of March, he had already stated that he was the target of racist slurs from some of his supporters. Volendam immediately issued a statement saying that neither the club nor Ould-Chikh would make any further statements on the matter.

Bilal is struggling with this situation. He now plans to leave the Netherlands for Morocco after his career. "It’s a kind of trauma. This feeling of being different has never left me," laments the player previously selected for Morocco’s U20 team. He adds: "After my career, I’m moving to Morocco. There, I feel more at home than in the Netherlands."