World Cup 2026: How Morocco won the battle for Dutch-born talent

To simply reduce modern change to politics would miss the point.

For many dual-national footballers, the decision has always been deeply personal – shaped by family, culture and opportunity, as much as passport or public debate.

But the relationship between the Dutch and Moroccan football federations has changed fundamentally.

The scale of that change is extraordinary.

Almost one in four players at World Cup 2026 were born outside the country they represent. Eight of the tournament’s 48 squads have at least as many foreign-born players as the home country, illustrating how modern international football increasingly reflects patterns of immigration.

Few countries embody that evolution better than Morocco.

Nineteen of Mohammad Ohbi’s 26-man squad were born outside the country. the time A draw against Brazil in the group stage, Morocco became the first team in World Cup history to field an entire foreign-born starting XI.

This is no accident of population.

More than a decade ago, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation began investing heavily in identifying dual-national talent across Europe. Scouts were deployed across France, Belgium, Spain and the Netherlands – not only to monitor promising youngsters but also to strengthen relationships with them and their families long before they enter the senior international football equation.

Former Morocco technical director Pim Verbeek later explained that the appointment extended beyond the player. He argued that family often plays as important a role in shaping a player’s decision as football.

The policy reshaped Morocco’s international fortunes. As of the 2018 World Cup, five members of their squad were born in the Netherlands. Four years later, when Morocco became the first African nation to reach the World Cup semi-finals, they had 14 foreign-born players in their 26-man squad.

Change rarely happens all at once. In the years following Bousatta, players such as Khalid Boulerouj and Ibrahim Afelai still chose the Netherlands – attracted by the prospect of competing for one of international football’s traditional powers.

At the same time, Morocco was steadily changing its approach – establishing close ties with dual-nationality players long before senior call-ups became a reality.