“Moroccan fans are crazy about European football thanks to the geographical proximity, and the fact that the majority of the Moroccan national team players play in Europe”, says Jalal Bounouar, who works for Almarssadpro.com – a digital media platform that reaches hundreds of thousands football fans in Morocco. “We follow the majority of the European leagues, including the Dutch Eredivisie, through international channels. All cafés in Morocco provide this service, in addition to personal subscriptions”, he explains.

Almarssadpro.com reports on the performances of Moroccan players. “Our mission is to provide the details and statistics related to the performances of our professional players in all over the world”, Bounouar says. It is also via the platform he works for, that FC Utrecht is gaining popularity in Morocco. “We do focus a lot on the Eredivisie for the reason that plenty of Moroccan players play for different Dutch clubs. FC Utrecht is one of the top ten European teams we follow to keep the Moroccan fans abreast of the performances of the four Moroccan players who play in the FC Utrecht first team: Yassin Ayoub, Zakaria Labyad, Bilal Ould-Chikh and Anouar Kali.”

“We have been sharing all the news and statistics about our players in this great club”, he continues. “Yassin Ayoub and Zakaria Labyad have been selected in our Team of the Week in multiple occasions. Moroccan fans know Labyad very well, since he was with the Olympic national team in London in 2012. We do remember his stunning goal against Honduras in that tournament.”

Bounouar thinks Moroccan football fans are grateful for the opportunity Labyad was given at FC Utrecht. “FC Utrecht has given him the opportunity to get back his great technical and physical abilities. We are glad that he is selected for the national team, which is preparing for the 2018 World Cup.”

“How Moroccan fans look at Yassin Ayoub? We have always believed in his talent and his deservedness to join the national team”, Bounouar tells us. “It is thanks to his patience and hark work in addition to the facilities provided at FC Utrecht that Yassin is now in the national team squad. We do believe that we can rely on him in the next few years.”

As long as FC Utrecht keeps feelding Moroccan players, Moroccan fans will follow and sympathize the team from Utrecht, Bounouar thinks. “We wish the best for FC Utrecht and for Bilal Ould-Chikh and Anouar Kali too. We are sure FC Utrecht is providing them with all what they need to improve their talents and hope for them to someday join the national team too, just like Zakaria, Yassin and Sofyan Amrabat before.”