Morocco players kneel in sujood prayer after penalty shootout victory against Spain.
(Credit: Salih Zeki Fazlıoğlu/Anadolu Agency)
Elham Asaad Buaras
The first World Cup held in an Arab country will be remembered for many other firsts. Qatar 2022 was the first time we saw (bisht-cloaked) Lionel Messi, arguably the greatest player in history, lift a World Cup after the most dramatic of finals. It was the first tournament where fans could attend three matches in one day. And we saw the first of 12 upsets in the group stages (a competition record) when Saudi Arabia came from behind to cause one of the biggest ever World Cup shocks, beating Argentina.
RABAT, MOROCCO – DECEMBER 20: Supporters cheer during the homecoming parade of of Morocco’s national football team in central Rabat, Morocco December 20, 2022. Morocco national team won the fourth place at the 2022 FIFA World Cup. ( Jalal Morchidi – Anadolu Agency)
However, the abiding memory of Qatar 2022, for many people, particularly those in the southern hemisphere, will be that of the Moroccan team’s emergence as a symbol of regional, religious, and continental unity.
For fans of the underdog story, Morocco’s historic run to the semi-final was the highlight of the tournament. We witnessed the Atlas Lions epically top their group, defeating Canada and Belgium, holding Croatia to a draw, and then eliminating Spain on penalties in the Round of 16, before overcoming Portugal and producing that lasting image of a tearful Cristiano Ronaldo leaving the stadium in what’s widely regarded as his last match for the Iberian team.
As the first Arab team to reach the quarterfinals and the first African team to reach the semis, Morocco’s slaying of Europe’s best was met with a wave of euphoria across the Arab, African, and Muslim worlds. Even as eventual runner-up France ended their Cinderella run, images of jubilant fans in Asia and Africa cheering on Walid Regragui’s team flooded social media platforms. Gone were regional rivalries, with Moroccan flags adorning cafés, sidewalks, squares, and even school halls in Egypt, Algeria, and Tunisia.
Morocco football team celebrates their victory by raising the Palestinian flag 🇵🇸 after advancing to the Fifa Worldcup Quarter finals#FIFAWorldCup2022 #Morocco #Palestine #Bono #Spain pic.twitter.com/oC1ZNHavVC
— Just Politics (@just_politics01) December 6, 2022
But it was not just the Moroccan flag that captured hearts. Like several other Arab nations, Morocco has agreed on diplomatic ties with Israel; however, the Moroccan team’s habit of unfurling Palestinian flags as they celebrated one implausible victory after another made it clear where their loyalties regarding the decades-old occupation lie.
Palestinians, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, Gaza, and annexed east Jerusalem have (like much of the region) embraced Morocco.
Saeed al-Ramahi, a Ramallah-based sporting goods shop owner, said enthusiasm for the Moroccan squad seemed insatiable, with all of his jerseys sold out. “If I had 300,000 shirts, I would have sold them all in the last two days,” he said. “The World Cup reveals the lie that the Palestinian cause has been buried by the recent normalisation agreements,” said Palestine FA President, Jibril Rajoub.
And unapologetically Muslim team
At a time when Muslims are persecuted in China, India and Myanmar and subjected to draconian laws in the West, the Moroccan squad engaged in what could best be described as an open and unabashed display of their Muslim-ness after every success and even after their eventual defeat.
‘Our Muslim hearts swooned to see them not only win but do so while being unapologetically Muslim on the field: from reciting Surah al Fatiha [opening chapter of the Qur’an], to players hugging and dancing with their mothers on the field (begetting what seemed like a million shared images of son-mother joy with some form of the caption, “Your mother, your mother, your mother,” invoking a popular hadith [Prophet’s saying] in Islam that pays honour to mothers), to prostrating at the end of matches,’ wrote Dilshad Ali of RNS.
The reporting of the sujood ritual also reminded many of how comically ignorant many journalists are when it comes to Islam and Muslim-related facts, with ESPN.com describing Moroccan players’ following their loss to France as ‘bowing to their supporters.’
The Moroccan team also embraced, kissed, and ushered their hijab-wearing mothers onto the field for hugs. Pictures of Achraf Hakimi climbing into the stands to celebrate with his mum in the crowd went viral, as did his Instagram pic after the Spain game, captioned ‘I love you, mum.’
أحبك أمي ❤️ pic.twitter.com/2BLQ2jVbii
— Achraf Hakimi (@AchrafHakimi) November 27, 2022
However, the players’ Muslimness was also the target of Islamophobic jibes. A Danish TV station apologised for airing derogatory monkey comparison comments. TV 2 News host Christian Høgh Andersen attempted to transition from a story featuring the Moroccan players hugging their mothers to the next news segment about animals and how they gather to keep warm by holding up a picture of monkeys.
“In continuation of the talk about Morocco (players) and their families in Qatar, we also have an animal family gathering to keep warm,” he said.
Not to be surpassed in the battle of Euro-sourced Islamophobia, the German TV host for Welt sparked uproar when he accused the Moroccan players of “posing with the Islamic State gesture” following their quarterfinal victory over Portugal. In the widely circulated online news clip, three players can be seen smiling, holding a Moroccan flag between them, and raising their index finger, a centuries-old celebratory gesture used by Muslims to accentuate the oneness of God.
Welt, one of Germany’s most popular TV channels, said the gesture caused “irritation” because it’s the salute the IS used after conquests. The segment went on to suggest that the Muslim players were unaware of the importance of the upheld index finger.
But German journalist Tarek Bae, accused Welt of “fabricating” the connection with IS, adding that while Moroccan players know the real meaning of their faith, “racists in the world do not,” and “this inflammatory reporting around the world irritates.”
Germany-based US journalist Hebh Jamal, criticising the coverage, said. “I am fascinated every day by the extent to which German racism presents itself in its coverage of the World Cup.”
The vitriol coming from some in the European media could be attributed to the fact that 14 of Morocco’s 26-man squad in Qatar were born in Europe, including Spain, France, the Netherlands, Italy, and Belgium, but decided to represent their ancestral homeland instead.
It’s a decision some of the players have received heavy criticism over. Hakim Ziyech, who played for the under-21 Dutch team, was labelled “stupid” by Dutch football icon Marco van Basten for choosing Morocco over the Netherlands. Many were also surprised when Madrid-born Achraf Hakimi, one of the best defenders in the world, chose Morocco over Spain.
“I did not feel at home [in Spain], it was not for anything in particular, but for what I felt,” the Paris Saint-Germain right-back told Spain’s Marca following a stint with the Spain youth team.
Perhaps, that sense of belonging, or lack thereof, was shaped by the treatment of other Muslim and Arab players representing European teams. France and Germany, the previous two World Cup winners, have attributed their success to the multicultural make-up of their teams.
The semi-final between France and Morocco was dubbed an “African derby” by the Italian daily La Gazzetta Dello Sport because of the number of French players of African descent, including eventual Golden Boot winner Kylian Mbappé, whose mother is Algerian, and father is Cameroonian. Most famously, the 1998 French winning team, spearheaded by midfield maestro Zinedine Zidane, was dubbed “Black, Blanc, Beur” to describe the representation of Black, Arab, and white France.
There is, however, an unspoken rule that the celebration of diversity must end when the winning ends, as France’s loss demonstrated. Aurelien Tchouameni, Kingsley Coman and Randal Kolo Muani, all Black members of Didier Deschamps’ squad, received sickening racist abuse in the immediate aftermath of the defeat to Argentina, which included monkey and banana emojis.
Tchouameni, 22, and Kolo Muani, 24, have limited comments and closed them off, respectively, while Coman’s, 26, comments section remains open. The trio’s racist ordeal should not have come as a surprise. Following a string of defeats, former national coach Laurent Blanc proposed setting quotas for non-white players, claiming that the French system had “too many Black and Arab” players and insufficient numbers of white players “with our culture, our history.”
Several elite ethnic minority players including Germany’s Mesut Özil (who is of Turkish descent), France’s Karim Benzema (of Algerian descent), and Belgium’s Romelu Lukaku (of Congolese descent) have described a lingering sense of contingent citizenship while playing for their national teams, something to the effect of, “I’m German, French, or Belgian when we win, an immigrant when we lose.”
Mesut Özil has quit international football after facing racism following his meeting with Turkish President Erdogan. pic.twitter.com/Z0qz1VYdv8
— ilmfeed (@IlmFeed) July 22, 2018
Morocco’s head coach, Regragui, himself born in France and who became the first African coach to lead a team to the semi-finals of a World Cup, remarked, “We have shown that every Moroccan is Moroccan… When he comes to the national team, he wants to fight and die. As the coach, I was born in France, and nobody can have my heart for my country. This is what I say to the players. Every time they come to the national team; they give 100 percent.
What’s great is that players are born in Germany, Italy, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and Belgium—every country has a football culture, and we’ve created a mix that I’m very happy with.”
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