Morocco Coach Defends Dual-National Recruitment in International Soccer

In a long interview with the newspaper El Pais, the coach of Morocco has addressed the case of dual nationals and the battles that federations wage to convince players. The Moroccan national football team is full of players for whom the choice was spontaneous and others who were convinced. But it sometimes happens that the players approached are confused, unable to make a quick choice. This is the case of Brahim Diaz, born in Spain to a Moroccan father and a Spanish mother. Torn between the two countries, his choice is still awaited.

"Only a dual national knows what it is to be a dual national. No one can put themselves in the place of a child born in Europe to Moroccan, Colombian, Peruvian parents. I am grateful to France, I was born there, I was educated there and I was socially raised there. I played football in France, but I don’t forget the history of my parents. All I ask is that those who play with us do not do so by default," said Walid Regragui.

For the coach of the Atlas Lions, the choice of a sports nationality to the detriment of another should not be perceived as a failure. It is sometimes difficult for the players themselves to choose, he stressed. "The fact that Laporte plays for Spain is not a failure for France. Maybe he felt more Spanish having been trained in Spain," Regragui added.

According to him, the norm for dual nationals remains to choose the country where they were born. "Why didn’t Mbappé, who could have done it, play for Cameroon or Algeria, and chose France? The norm is that players choose the country where they grow up. That’s the case with Brahim Diaz," he specified.