European players who switched their nationality to play for Morocco – World Cup 2022

Players born outside of Morocco who have Moroccan descent and traits and are of high quality will definitely be poached by the Football Federation to switch allegiance to play for the Maghrebian side. 

ADAM MASINA was born in  Khourigba in Morocco but left to live in Italy at a young age with his parents. He had his youth career at Bologna from 2001 to 2013 before signing his first professional contract. 

In November 2015, Luigi Di Biagio called Masina to represent the Italy U21 team after obtaining FIFA clearance. He made his debut with the Italy U21 afterward in the Euro 2017 qualifiers in the same month. 

The Royal Moroccan Football Federation first approached Masina to play for Morocco but the player declined when as he was expecting a senior call-up by the Italy national team. 

In March 2021 the 28-year-old left-back was invited to represent Morocco in the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches against Mauritania and Burundi. He made his debut against Mauritania. 

Masina made the final list for the 2021 Africa Cup of Nations in Cameroon where played in all matches for the Atlas Lions. 

He also featured prominently in the World Cup qualifications and played both games during the playoff against DR Congo.

SOUFIANE ALAKOUCH who plays for FC Metz in France is a candidate for the Morocco squad list for the upcoming World Cup in Qatar later this year. He changed his international identity in 2021 after switching allegiance from France. 

Alakouch was born in France with a Moroccan parent and represented the European country at the U19 level. He received a call-up to represent the Morocco national team in August 2017 but didn’t turn up.

The right-back later received a call-up to represent the France U20 team at the 2018 Toulon Tournament on May 17, 2018.

Alakouch debuted with the  Morocco national in a 3-0 2022 FIFA World Cup qualification win over Sudan in November 2021. He played in the first leg of the World Cup playoff against DR Congo.