Rising Star: Ibrahim Salah’s Journey from Belgian Streets to Morocco’s National Team

Born in Saint-Josse in 2001, Ibrahim Salah took his first steps on the Verbist street. He scored his first goals on the pitches of Evere and Zaventem from the age of 8. "Then I went to Union Saint-Gilloise. I started my first year in the elite, but I got injured in the finger, and I came back in group B. I played 3 years in group B from 13 to 15 years old," Salah recounted two years ago to Stade Rennais Online. At the time, he had just joined Brittany from La Gantoise. But before shining with the Buffalos, Ibrahim has known the vicissitudes of life. After Union, he joined the elite team of Excel Mouscron, before signing with Beerschot at the age of 17. "But at the end of the year, the sports director tells me that they are going to recruit a lot of players, that I don’t have the level, that he doesn’t believe in my qualities, that I might not become a professional, and that they want to send me on loan to the 3rd division. I refused immediately," he explains to la Dernière heure.

At 18, he has neither a club nor an agent. He trains individually while waiting to find a new club. "One day, I’m at home and my brother tells me to go for a run. At the end of my jog, I see some friends playing 5-a-side. I play a bit with them, and there I see a guy who had come to see one of his players. He offers me to do a tournament in Bristol, England." Ibrahim seizes the opportunity. But the adventure turns short. After Bristol, he chains thirteen trials in eighteen months in the UK: Brighton, Leicester City and even Chelsea. But he ran into a difficulty: he was still affiliated with Beerschot. "I was doing tests that were useless, since I had administrative problems. I stayed 4 months at Leicester, they were doing everything for me to sign. There was also Brentford, they were the two clubs I had."

After this misadventure, he returns to Belgium at the age of 19. Luck smiles on him: a professional club in Dubai contacts him and makes him an attractive offer. But following the advice of his father, he declines the proposal and hopes to continue his football career in Europe. La Gantoise is interested in Ibrahim and offers him to come train, with first a 700 € contract for six months. He shines with the reserve team, in 2021 and becomes a professional. He gets playing time with the first team the following season (3 goals in 21 matches), with Tarik Tissoudali being injured. In January 2023, Stade Rennais extends a hand to him. "I was at the cinema, my brother calls me and tells me ’I think it’s going to happen’. I ask him which club and he answers ’Rennes’. I immediately left the movie theater, I didn’t care about the movie." He signs a 4-year contract with the club of Arthur Theate.

This new signing opens the door to the den of the Atlas Lions for him. Walid Regragui lines him up for the match against Brazil. His career is finally taking off. Ibrahim will be loaned to Brest last summer. His wish is to have his purchase option exercised at the end of the season. He scored 1 goal and provided 1 assist in 16 games. A modest performance to be sure, but the Brussels native is optimistic. "I’ll do everything to get the coach to use me as much as possible; it will come with the future. I know the coach trusts me, he’s already told me," he explained two months ago. The 23-year-old player defied the mighty Real Madrid on Wednesday evening (3-0). "It’s incredible, we’re making club history. We knew we were going to do everything to win the games as we did. We gave it our all, and it paid off," he rejoiced in November "when Stade Brestois had already virtually validated its qualification for the second round by starting with 10 points out of 12."