Morocco Outpaces European Nations in Recruiting Dual-Nationality Soccer Talent

The Marouane Fellaini affair dates back to 2005. After participating in a friendly match between Morocco’s U20s and the Netherlands, a succession of misunderstandings and unsaid things will push "Big Mo" to choose the Red Devils. "He only played 20 minutes when the Dutch were already leading 3-0. That offended him and directed his choice," Nasser Larguet, Morocco’s technical director from 2014 to 2019, had confided to La Dernière Heure. "I heard about this case at the time," he explains to the same Belgian media over the phone from Saudi Arabia. "He had come to try out when he was in full growth. He had not been taken seriously. The person who had judged him had said that he was more of a basketball player than a footballer, according to what I was told without having experienced the event."

Since that time, Morocco has avoided making the same mistake. It fights to snatch dual-national players from their country of adoption or birth. To achieve this, Larguet, currently DTN in Saudi Arabia, will implement an effective strategy. "From 2007 to 2014, I directed the academy of (King Mohammed VI). We bet on training, but it takes time. We were logically not ready to produce top players right away. It was relevant to be interested in dual-nationals." These dual-national players must first and foremost meet one condition: they must be better than the local players. Larguet and his team work tirelessly and obtain concrete results. "After two years, we had scouts everywhere in Europe, from Germany to Italy via France, the Netherlands and Spain. They gave us lists of names. We traveled and scouted. That’s how we discovered Noussair Mazraoui, Sofyan Amrabat or Achraf Hakimi."

Morocco’s strategy has been to show interest in dual-national players from a very young age. "I realized that before, we were going to look for them at 18. It’s too late. Often the players came by default, because France, Belgium or the Netherlands had not chosen them. There, we made the bet to be interested in them as soon as they were 15 years old. In 2014, we created a U15 national team just for that." Larguet’s method also relies on transparency. "For Hakimi, I went to see Real Madrid to warn them of our project," the DTN recounts. "He came to us to honor a selection with the U16s and then Spain spotted him." He leaves the free will to the player to respond positively to the call-up.

"If there was a solicitation from the native country, it was quite normal to give him the possibility to go there. I was happy that he could compare, because I would not have wanted him to reproach me all his life for having forced him to choose Morocco." Then Larguet convinces him to join the Atlas Lions squad. "This must be part of their analysis. When Hakimi had doubts, I mentioned to him that the Spanish reservoir was teeming with full-backs playing in the biggest clubs in the world like Dani Carvajal or Nacho. He was only 17 years old. We only had Nabil Dirar. The sporting aspect dictated his decision," Larguet confides.

Thanks to these efforts, the Moroccan team is emerging to the point of forming a golden generation. In 2022, the Atlas Lions reached the semi-finals of a World Cup for the first time in their history. "If Morocco had not achieved this run at the 2022 World Cup, there would not be so much enthusiasm. Now the country is attractive. It will host the 2025 CAN and the 2030 World Cup, in addition to benefiting from high-level infrastructure." Today, this exceptional run attracts new dual-national talents. Over the years, Morocco has become a model to follow in the recruitment of dual-national players. It does better than France, Spain, Belgium, Spain and Algeria. The latter is experiencing the same basic problems that Morocco lived through 15 years ago. "No one trains except Paradou, MC Alger and Sétif," analyzes Ishaq Chebli, an Algerian sports journalist living in Brussels.