Real Madrid star Brahim Diaz has shocked the footballing world as he has chosen to play for Morocco over Spain. The Spanish midfielder has roots in Morocco and has only been capped by the Spanish National team once in a friendly match against Lithuania.
The 24-year-old will be eligible to play for Morocco due to his father’s Moroccan roots and the Football Association of Morocco will have to submit a formal request to FIFA for the change of allegiance regarding his nationality.
Diaz was born in Malaga but can represent Morocco due to his paternal bloodline and can make the African nation formidable which already has talents like Achraf Hakimi, Soufyane Amrabat, and Hakim Ziyech in their ranks.
The attacking midfielder has made 32 appearances for the Los Blancos this season and he has been influential in his gameplay contributing 8 goals and 4 assists this season.
He joined Real Madrid in 2019 from the Manchester City academy and after a sporadic spell for the Spanish giants, he moved to AC Milan where he scored 18 goals and 15 assists in 124 appearances.
The rules in FIFA state that the players can switch the nationality of their country if they have made less than 3 senior appearances before the age of 21 for one country and have not made any appearances for that country for the last three years.
So far, the Spanish FA has not been formally informed about Diaz’s decision to switch country allegiance which means that there is a long way to go before he represents Morocco.
In the 2022 World Cup, Moroccan manager Walid Regragui achieved an unprecedented feat with the Morocco team and helped them to become the first African team to reach the semifinals.
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