Noureddine Naybet hung up his boots two decades ago now, but his tally of 115 appearances for the remains a record, with Achraf Hakimi, the captain of the current crop, second in the standings. “I’m really happy and very grateful to Morocco: to all the players who played with me all that time ago and to the whole country,” said Naybet when speaking to FIFA in the run-up to the .
The Morocco U-18 coach will be present at the event taking place in Canada, Mexico and the United States and acknowledges that several coincidences will make it particularly special. He was born in 1970, the year when the FIFA World Cup™ was first held in Mexico and in which the Atlas Lions racked up their maiden outings at the competition, and he began to harbour dreams of playing in the global showpiece himself during the second edition on Mexican soil, in 1986, at which the Moroccans again featured. Naybet eventually made his debut on the ultimate stage at USA 1994.
“Playing at the World Cup is the high point of any footballer’s career,” said the former centre-back. “It’s bigger than the Champions League. It’s the pinnacle for every player and for every country as well. It’s something else. Every kid dreams about it. I enjoyed the World Cup in the United States so much. It’s hard to explain. It was my first. I have such wonderful memories of it that I’ll never forget.”
Despite these fond recollections, the Atlas Lions were knocked out after losing all three of their fixtures in Group F, falling to Belgium, Saudi Arabia and the Netherlands in that order. Naybet started in the first two matches, but was suspended for the final game against the Oranje. He moved from Nantes to Sporting CP after Morocco’s exit from the tournament, before joining Deportivo La Coruna in 1996. The legendary stopper enjoyed the best years of his career at the iconic Spanish club and captained his country during his second World Cup campaign in 1998.
The Africans kicked off the group stage in France with a 2-2 draw against Norway, before suffering a 3-0 defeat at the hands of at his former stomping ground in Nantes. Ronaldo, Rivaldo and Bebeto were the goalscorers. “We were facing a football nation with four stars on their shirt, with a phenomenal attack and a team packed with legendary players,” said Naybet. “They had Cafu and Roberto Carlos at the back, and they also had Dunga in midfield. Our mistake was focusing too much on Brazil: we were only thinking about them and not about ourselves. In football, you have to believe in yourself to play with confidence.”
That setback left Morocco needing to beat and for the other result in the group to go their way to advance to the round of 16. They kept up their end of the bargain in emphatic fashion, running out 3-0 winners thanks to a brace from Naybet’s former Deportivo team-mate, Salaheddine Bassir, and an Abdeljalil Hadda strike. However, they never imagined that Norway would stage a last-gasp comeback to beat Brazil: “I remember how gutted we were at the time,” he said. “It really left a mark on all the players. We wept out there on the pitch.”
It turns out that they will face both the Canarinha and the Scots again in their first two group-stage matches at this year’s edition, on 13 and 19 June. made history in 2022 when they became the first African team in World Cup history to contest the semi-finals, after stunning Spain and Portugal in the knockout phase. Hopes are riding high that they can equal or surpass that feat at the upcoming tournament.
“We have a top-quality team, including world-class players, and a fantastic squad with talent and depth in all departments,” said Naybet. “We have to take it one game at a time and, while we’re not one of the favourites on paper, we’re confident of the threat we carry, so we can dream of going a long way with the quality we have. Who says we can’t win the World Cup?”
The central defender spent eight years in Galicia and helped the club win the 1999-2000 La Liga title, the 2001-02 Copa del Rey and two Spanish Super Cups, in addition to reaching the semi-finals of the 2003-04 UEFA Champions League. He played alongside a host of Brazilians, including the great : “We joined in the same year and lived in the same building,” said Naybet. “To begin with, I’d give him a lift to training in my car. He was a really nice guy and a brilliant player. He was already amazing and stepped it up a level when he signed for Barça. He was an artist.”
Naybet played 235 of his 284 games for Deportivo alongside Mauro Silva: “He was a leader on the pitch and a great guy off it. He was the first to invite me to his house.” The Moroccan’s spell at Depor also overlapped with that of Djalminha, whom he referred to as “Picasso”, and Donato, “the veteran of the team and an example for any footballer to follow”.
So many Brazilians passed through the club during that period that when Naybet arrived, they treated him like one of their own. “I spent a lot of time with the Brazilians. I spoke Portuguese because I had joined from Sporting. Languages are really important for a player,” he explained, before continuing to reel off a list of his elite team-mates: Fran Gonzalez, “a star”, Juan Carlos Valeron, “another artist”, Roy Makaay and Lionel Scaloni.
The present-day Argentina coach named Naybet and Mauro Silva in his all-time best XI, along with Gianluigi Buffon, Cafu, Alessandro Nesta, Paolo Maldini, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Leo Messi, Ronaldo Nazario and Cristiano Ronaldo. “I have to thank him,” said Naybet. “Scaloni acted like a coach even before he became one, both on and off the pitch. He always motivated us.”
Sources: FIFA Official
