It's impossible to separate the football World Cup without broader themes including identity, politics, migratory patterns and culture. This daily has already written about how the 2026 World Cup is the diaspora World Cup but the Round of 32 clash between Morocco and the Netherlands went beyond that.
For decades, the two countries were in a quiet battle to secure the best talents. And for many years, the European nation was winning that particular arms race. Not anymore. Morocco, World Cup co-hosts in 2030, are winning this race. Over the last few weeks, reports have emerged that Shaqueel van Persie, son of Robin, may declare for Morocco, the country of his mother.
For years, the Dutch had players of Moroccan roots. The first seeds of discontent emerged when Hakim Ziyech picked Morocco over The Netherlands. It invited the ire of Marco van Basten, one of Dutch football's great figures. "How can you be stupid enough," he railed, "to opt for Morocco when you are eligible for the Dutch team?"
When Ziyech, who showed the path for others, picked the Atlas Lions, he said he had gone with heart. "I've always felt Moroccan, you choose with your heart," he had said. At the 2022 World Cup, 14 of Morocco's 26 men were born outside the country, including four who were born in The Netherlands (Ziyech, Noussair Mazraoui, Sofyan Amrabat and Zakaria Aboukhlal). In turn, Morocco became the first African team to advance to the semifinal of the World Cup. This year, 19 of their 26 players were born elsewhere including three in the Netherlands (apart from Mazraoui and Amrabat, the debutant Anass Salah-Eddine).
Because there are almost 450,000 people of Moroccan descent living in the Netherlands according to recent estimates, that's a vast talent pool. And because most Moroccan kids' first port of call on the streets of Amsterdam and Rotterdam is football, the Moroccan football federation has cast the scouting net far and wide. Their sophisticated scouting operations have included tapping into the diaspora elsewhere (there was also a call made to Lamine Yamal, whose father was born in Morocco).
It's a win-win situation for them. Take for example the case of Ismael Saibari, the forward born in Spain and educated in football academies in Belgium and the Netherlands. Since 2020, he has been at PSV, whose academy is one of the best in western Europe. By the time he started playing for Morocco in 2024, his technical profile was already mimicking those born in the Netherlands. He scored the winning penalty for the country of his parents against Netherlands, the country which polished and chiselled his game. After the World Cup, he will play for Bayern Munich as they signed him for over 50 million euros.
It's the same thing with Ayoub Bouaddi, the defensive midfielder thought to be valued at almost 100 million already. Born in France, he played for them at all age-group levels. But the country of his parents kept watching from afar. Then, they began lobbying. Less than a month before the World Cup, they had their man. In his third match for his new home, he faced up to the might of Brazil at the World Cup and won the midfield battle. "We had a lot of meetings with him to get him to choose Morocco, and he was good," Morocco manager Mohamed Ouahbi told the media after that Brazil game. The same strategy was used to persuade Issa Diop, the centre-back born in France. On Monday, he scored the equaliser in injury time.
In the ensuing penalty shoot-out, Yassine Bounou stood tall — literally — to bat away Crysencio Summerville's penalty. The goalkeeper was born in Canada.