Regragui reveals how Morocco swayed Lamine Yamal before he opted for Spain

Regragui - Photo Credit: Royal Moroccan Football Federation.

Morocco national team head coach Walid Regragui has discussed how the African nation made all the efforts to try and convince youngster Lamine Yamal to play for their national team but he eventually opted to accept Spain.

Yamal was born on July 13, 2007, in Esplugues de Llobregat, in the Barcelona metropolitan area in Catalonia, to waitress Sheila Ebana and building painter Mounir Nasraoui. Yamal's mother was born in Bata, Equatorial Guinea, and his father is from Larache, Morocco. They gave him a compound given name to honour two people, named Lamine and Yamal, who helped them financially shortly before their son was born.] Yamal is a Muslim.

According to Regragui, the North Africans made all the efforts, and even put in together a compelling vision for Yamal to pick Morocco and went further to present the opportunity to be part of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which Morocco is scheduled to host, and the landmark 2030 FIFA World Cup, that the they will co-host alongside Spain and Portugal.

“Lamine Yamal is a generational star who we tried to get to play for Morocco, but he chose Spain, and we wish him the best of luck. What he does at his age is incredible,” Regragui to Marca as quoted by SABC Sports.

“I spoke directly with Lamine Yamal and he was honest with me, and also with the Moroccan Federation,” Regragui said on his efforts to sway the player, who later officially committed to Spain in August 2023 after meetings with the Spanish Football Federation.

‘We tried everything - the project we have with Morocco, the AFCON on home soil, the 2030 World Cup, and the love the country has for Lamine.”

At the age of 16 years and 50 days, Yamal received his first senior international call-up on September 1, 2023 by coach Luis de la Fuente for the UEFA Euro 2024 qualifiers against Georgia and Cyprus, and made his senior debut against the former opponent on 8 September 2023, scoring in the 74th minute of a 7-1 victory.