Bouaddi stands by Morocco decision despite World Cup exit to France

• Ayyoub Bouaddi says he has no regrets about choosing Morocco over France after the Atlas Lions’ World Cup elimination.
• France defeated Morocco 2-0 to reach the semifinals, ending the North Africans’ impressive tournament run.
• Bouaddi believes the experience will help Morocco continue developing ahead of future international competitions.

Ayyoub Bouaddi insists he has no regrets about committing his international future to Morocco after the Atlas Lions were eliminated from the World Cup following a 2-0 quarterfinal defeat to France.

Goals from Kylian Mbappé and Ousmane Dembélé secured France’s place in the semifinals in a repeat of the nations’ meeting at the 2022 World Cup, ending Morocco’s hopes of another historic run.

Bouaddi, who represented France at youth level before switching allegiance to Morocco in May, said the result had not changed his feelings about his international decision.

“There’s absolutely no regret at having chosen Morocco,” Bouaddi said.

“I always said that it was a choice from the heart, and I’m very proud to represent Morocco, regardless of what happens.”

“The most important thing now is that we know, the players, the staff, everyone, that whatever happens, we’ll always give everything for the shirt.”

“We’re proud, although we’d hoped to make the Moroccan people as proud as possible.”

“For the future competitions, we’ll know what we still have to improve to go as far as possible.”

“We’ll keep working and improving what we do.”

The 18-year-old Lille midfielder has emerged as one of the breakout performers of the tournament after making his competitive senior debut for Morocco earlier this year and quickly establishing himself as a regular starter.

Born and raised in northern France, Bouaddi had captained the France Under-21 side as recently as March before confirming his decision to represent Morocco at senior level.

His choice became a major talking point before Thursday’s quarterfinal, with many questioning whether France had missed the opportunity to secure one of the country’s brightest young talents.

Although Morocco struggled to impose themselves against Didier Deschamps’ side, Bouaddi believes the experience will prove valuable.

“Going into the match, we knew we were up against a very good France team,” he said.

“We knew it was going to be a difficult game that would demand a huge amount of effort from us.”

“I think we gave everything we had, we gave 100 percent, but that’s football, you can’t always win.”

“I think this match will help us grow.”

“It will show us what we need to take into the next competitions and the areas we still need to improve.”

“It’s those small details that we have to work on if we want to go even further.”

Despite the defeat, Morocco made further history by becoming the first African nation to reach the World Cup quarterfinals in consecutive tournaments and the only African side to reach the last eight on two separate occasions.

France will now face either Spain or Belgium in the World Cup semifinals.