Munir El Haddadi’s case to play for Morocco rejected

by Phumzile Ngcatshe

Wednesday May 16, 2018. 10:30

News coming through from North Africa is that the Court of Arbitration for Sport has rejected Munir El Haddadi's appeal against FIFA's ruling that prevented him from playing for Morocco.

The Barcelona player who is on loan at Alaves had requested to switch national allegiances from Spain to Morocco.

However, FIFA rules prevent players from changing national teams once they have played a competitive international, even if they hold dual nationality.

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According to the BBC, the 22-year-old made a single appearance for Spain in a European championship qualifier against Macedonia in September 2014 where he came on as a substitute and played less than 15 minutes.

"Such decision is now confirmed and the request to change the sporting nationality of Munir El Haddadi from Spain to Morocco remains denied," said CAS in a statement.

Making his appeal with the Moroccan Football Federation, El Haddadi had asked for a fast-track ruling in the hope of playing for the North Africans at next month's 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.

The youngster was born in Spain and has a Moroccan father. He launched his football career at Barcelona's famous youth academy where he made his professional debut.

Moreover, FIFA’s stakeholders committee is studying a proposal to make the rules more flexible in such cases.