Atlas Lions pay tribute to the late Haj Larbi Ben Barek

On the sidelines of the friendly match between Morocco and Peru, the Lions paid tribute to Larbi Ben Barek. This tribute notably highlighted the contribution of pioneering Moroccan players to the radiant football history of the kingdom.

​The Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) and Atletico Madrid paid a vibrant tribute to the late Haj Larbi Ben Barek, a great figure in Moroccan and world football, before the start of the friendly match which opposes, Tuesday evening at the Civitas Metropolitano stadium in Madrid, the Moroccan selection to its Peruvian counterpart.

More than a recognition of the great career and the brilliant career of the late both in Morocco and in Europe, this tribute to the ”black Pearl” highlights the contribution of pioneering Moroccan players to the radiant football history of the kingdom.

A giant portrait of the late Haj Larbi Ben Barek has been erected at the entrance to the Metropolitanalongside club legendsAtlético Madrid.

Before the match kicked off, a video recounting moments in the career of one of the greatest footballers in the history of the 20th century was shown, to the applause of the public.

An exceptionally talented striker born in Casablanca on June 16, 1917, the late Ben Barek first went through US Moroccan and Wydad Casablanca before joining French football (Marseille, Stade Français).

During a career launched before the Second World War and ended ten years after this conflict, he wore the colors of the Atlético de Madrid club for six seasons.

From 1948 to 1954, he won two league titles (1950, 1951) and scored 58 goals in 114 La Liga games before retiring from sport aged 41.

The late Ben Barek wore the Moroccan jersey twenty times before donning that of the Blues of France from 1938 to 1954, the last time at almost 40 years old.

In October 1954, he played for the North Africa team against the France team, during a friendly match for the benefit of the victims of the earthquake in Orléansville (Chlef) in Algeria.

In 1960, he briefly became coach of Morocco, a few years after the independence of the Kingdom. His sporting trajectory symbolizes the close ties between Morocco and Spain, further strengthened by the recent announcement of the joint Spain-Portugal-Morocco bid to host the 2030 World Cup.