10 Moroccans in Ligue 1 this season
This season ten Moroccans are on the lawns of Ligue 1. The best known of them is the right side of PSG Achrafi Hakimi (24 years). Born in Spain and trained at Real Madrid, he moved on to Dortmund then Inter before being sold to PSG for €68m in the summer of 2021. In a season and a half, the former Inter player played 46 Ligue 1 and he scored 7 goals for as many assists.
In addition to the PSG star, Morocco is also well represented in Angers, which has three Moroccans in its squad: Sofiane Boufal (29 years old), Azzedine Ounahi (22 years old) e Yassin Belkhdim (20 years). The first came to light in SCO in the early 2010s, went to Lille and tried his luck abroad (Southampton, Celta Vigo), before returning to his homeland in 2020. His teammate Ounahi is also one of the captains of Gérald Baticle’s eleven although he was still in the national team with Avranches just a year and a half ago. As for Yassin Belkhdim, he has not yet appeared for the Angevin first team.
The other Moroccan community is located near Auxerre with Hamza Sachi (26), 15-time keeper this season, e Kays Ruiz-Atil (20 years old), the former PSG hopeful. Among the well-known heads of our championship we can also mention the taulier of the Reims defense Yunis Abdelhamid (35 years old) and the Marseillaises Amin Harit (25), vaulted this season before picking up a serious injury against Monaco just days before the World Cup. Enfin Zakaria Abukhlal (22 years old) e Achraf Da (23) are important players in Toulouse and Reims.
Five of them are at the World Cup
In the absence of Amine Harit, five Moroccan Ligue 1 residents are among the heroic World Cup semi-finalists: Hakimi, Boufal, Ounahi, Dari and Aboukhlal. The first three are in the type 11, and the next two are entered against Portugal.
Atlas Lions’ starting central defense is also well known to Ligue 1 observers with ex-Angevin Romain Saïss and ex-Dijon and Rennes Nayef Aguerd.
Walid Regragui has instead decided to do without Yunis Abdelhamid, who has not been called up since 2020, and Kays Ruiz-Atil who recently announced his choice to represent Morocco after going through France Under 20.
Moroccan with most appearances in Ligue 1
According to the Transfermarkt website, 102 Moroccan footballers have played in Ligue 1. The most experienced of them is Abdelkrim Krimau who scored for French clubs between 1974 and 1989. This center forward with 13 selections (5 goals) played in Bastia, Lille, Toulouse, Metz, Strasbourg, Tours, Le Havre, Saint-Etienne and Matra Racing, just that. In total he scored 86 goals in 290 first division games.
Behind him are the Ligue 1 figures of the 2000s. Youssouf Hadji, who played 282 Ligue 1 games between Nancy, Bastia and Rennes. The 2009 French champion Marouane Chamakh completes the podium with his 230 L1 appearances (56 goals), closely followed by Kamel Chafni (200 appearances). Yunis Abdelhamid is the only current Ligue 1 player to feature in the top 10 with 166 appearances.
The most limited selection
Among the players who have overtaken France with the most caps for the Moroccan selection, Noureddine Naybet dominates the table. He spent a season at Nantes before going into exile at Sporting Portugal, Deportivo La Corogne and Tottenham, this defender made 115 appearances and featured in 6 CAN and two World Cups.
Behind him we find the current Atlas Lions captain Romain Saïss (71 appearances), the former Nancian Abdeslam Ouaddou (68 selections) then the brothers Youssouf and Moustapha Hadji (64 and 63 selections).
The ranking could be dominated in a few years by Achraf Hakimi, who has already worn the Moroccan’s shirt 59 times at just 24 years old.
Finally, clarification that despite his 58 selections, Mehdi Benatia does not appear in this top 15. Trained at OM then moved on to Tours, Lorient and Clermont, however he never played in Ligue 1 but only in Ligue 2.
Two globalists were born in France
Excluding France, 37 French-born players take part in the World Cup wearing the colors of another country. Two of them play for Atlas Lions: captain Romain Saïss and Sofiane Boufal. The former was born in Bourg-de-Péage, the latter in Paris. To this list we can add coach Wald Regragui, born in Corbeil-Essonnes.
In total among the 26 Moroccan globalists, 14 were not born in Morocco. France is not the most represented nation as four players were born in the Netherlands (Ziyech, Amrabat, Mazraoui, Aboukhlal) and three in Belgium (Amallah, Chair, El Khannous). Besides Achraf Hakimi, Munir Mohammedi was also born in Spain. Finally, other players were born in more unexpected countries like Yassine Bounou in Canada or Walid Cheddira in Italy.
