Morocco Denies Pressuring Lamine Yamal to Choose National Team

In a statement, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) denies the information published by the Spanish newspaper AS according to which Lamine Yamal was subjected to pressure and received money to choose to play for Morocco. These accusations, it specifies, are unfounded. "The Federal Authority recalls having respected the choices of the player Lamine Yamal as is customary with Moroccan-origin internationals who have opted to wear the colors of other national teams despite the efforts made by the stakeholders in this process of prospecting and detecting young talents in full respect of the regulations in force according to projects with clear objectives set by the National Technical Directorates of the different national teams, all categories combined," adds the same source.

Born in Spain to a Moroccan father and an Equatorial Guinean mother, Lamine Yamal, 16, has made his promising debuts in the youth categories of Barça and the Spanish national team (U15, U16, U17 and U19). The coach of the Moroccan national team Walid Regragui and the president of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF), Fouzi Lekjaâ, had wished for him to join the den of the Atlas Lions, but the Barça prodigy opted for Spain. The hope of seeing him play for Morocco is not completely lost, however. Summoned by Luis de la Fuente for the matches against Scotland (Thursday in Seville) and Norway (Sunday in Oslo), the young Spanish player will be conspicuous by his absence due to a left thigh injury.

Yamal left the Spanish national team’s training camp and returned to Barcelona, his club and the Spanish Federation (RFEF) have announced. According to FIFA regulations, a player with multiple nationalities can change his sporting nationality if he has not played more than three matches with a national team, which gives Morocco the possibility to try once again to convince the one who became at 16 years and 87 days the youngest scorer in La Liga to join the den of the Atlas Lions.