Hamza, Charraoui and Anas, three Moroccans in the Spanish futsal elite

The Moroccan futsal team was crowned champions of the Arab Cup last June after beating Kuwait 7-1 in Saudi Arabia. The city of Jeddah brought together teams such as Egypt, Libya, Iraq, Kuwait, Lebanon and Algeria, but it was the Atlas Lions who lifted the trophy for the third consecutive time.

Morocco is eighth in the FIFA ranking and is the top African exponent of this sport where they already won the Africa Cup in 2020 after defeating Egypt 5-0.

In that team led by Hicham Dguig there are three top-level players who this season will play together in the elite of Spanish futsal. Hamza Maimon, Anas El Ayanne and Soufian Charraoui will share the orange shirt of Ribera Navarra, one of the historic teams of the National Futsal League that finished 11th last season.  

Anas was already in that team where he played 29 games and scored two goals. His journey through Spanish futsal began in Villarreal, the city where he was born, before moving on to Levante, Zaragoza, Gran Canaria, Zaragoza and a spell in Italy with Latina Calcio 5 and Cybertel Aniene C5.

The left-footed player has been in the Morocco jersey since 2016 and has won the 2020 Africa Cup of Nations, the Arab Nations Cup in 2021, 2022 and 2023 as well as the 2022 Confederations Cup and the Rabat International Tournament in 2023.  

Soufian Charraoui is one of Ribera Navarra's new signings for the 2023-2024 season. He was born in Rotterdam and was due to make his debut for the Netherlands in 2021, but ended up accepting Morocco's invitation to wear red.

Charraoui himself commented that "I made that decision with feeling. Morocco is my country. My heart goes out to them. All my friends in the Netherlands are Moroccan and they are very proud of me".

Although he has had a brief spell in Italy, the 26-year-old right-footer shone in the Dutch league with Feyenoord Futsal where he scored eight goals in a single match for Hovocubo, the club he signed for the following season where he ended up scoring 53 goals.

The third of the Moroccans to play in Navarra is Hamza Maimon, a veteran of Spanish futsal who has had to leave Levante after the team's relegation to the second division of the LNFS.  

The Ceutí already played in Ribera Navarra in from 2014 to 2018 to then sign great seasons in Palma Futsal until his arrival in Levante where he has not been able to avoid relegation.

The Moroccan international also had a past with the Spanish national team up to the U21, but never took the step to the senior team and ended up accepting the call from Morocco as he explained to ATALAYAR, "The opportunity did not come and I had always been in contact with the Moroccan Federation for the possibility of being called up, but I was sincere and always said that I would like to play for Spain. They were kind and predisposed to me at all times and recently they got in touch again to evaluate the possibility of playing for Morocco. I didn't hesitate because of the growth that has taken place in the national team, because of how well things are going, because of the possibility of playing in international competitions and fulfilling my dream".

Now the three Atlas lions have the opportunity to set the bar high in the best futsal league in the world as they look for one of the African places at the Futsal World Cup to be played in Uzbekistan in 2024.