00:02Ashraf Hakimi is the biggest name in Moroccan football and a player redefining the role of a right-sided defender.
00:13Still just 27 when the World Cup gets underway, Hakimi's CV is already the stuff of fantasy.
00:23At club level, he is a UEFA Champions League winner with two teams.
00:28He's celebrated major honours in four out of the big five European leagues.
00:34And he's been named in the team of the season in Italy, Germany and France.
00:45At international level, he's won an Olympic bronze medal, played in a World Cup semi-final and is on track
00:52to earn close to 200 caps.
00:57At the very top of his profession, Hakimi will be one of the individual stars of the 2026 World Cup.
01:10Born in Madrid to Moroccan parents, Hakimi was enrolled in the Real Madrid youth system.
01:15And he made his debut for Los Blancos in a pre-season friendly when he was only 17.
01:24Although low in the pecking order for a spot at right full-back, Hakimi was involved in the Real squad
01:29that ended the year as Champions League winners.
01:35At 19 years of age, he was the first Moroccan to claim the biggest prize in European club football.
01:43Real recognised Hakimi was too good to not be playing regular first-team football.
01:48So arranged alone with German giants Borussia Dortmund.
01:55In his first Champions League outing for Dortmund, he made three assists.
02:03Not long afterwards, he was measured as breaking the Bundesliga record for the top speed of a player in the
02:09competition.
02:12After two successful years at the Westfalenstadion, Real cashed in on their young asset, selling Hakimi to Internazionale.
02:21By the end of his first year at San Siro, he had a Serie A title.
02:27By now, Hakimi was recognised as one of the finest attacking right full-backs in the world.
02:33And it was little surprise when Paris Saint-Germain threw a fistful of dollars at Inter to add Hakimi to
02:39their roster of superstars.
02:44He was revealed at the Parc des Princes alongside Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
02:51And remains long after those higher profile names have been deemed surplus to requirements.
03:00After an odyssey collecting European superclubs, Paris is where Hakimi looks set to spend the bulk of his career.
03:11My decision was very easy.
03:14You only have to see the roster of players, the ambition as a team and that they wanted me here.
03:23So all that made it an easy decision.
03:26I am very happy and I am looking forward to proving PSG made no mistake signing me.
03:37Paris is one of the cities with the biggest African and Muslim communities.
03:42And that was one of the main reasons to join them, because I identify with this community.
03:50I am very happy to come here and enjoy this culture.
03:53I want to learn new things with the French people.
04:00During his incredible rise in clubland, Hakimi has been turning out for Morocco.
04:06He has been a regular since 2017 and will be approaching a century of caps by the end of the
04:12World Cup.
04:14He was the youngest member of the squad at Russia 2018 and on field for every minute of play.
04:25I had the opportunity to play at the Russia World Cup and it was an amazing feeling, one of the
04:30greatest experiences of my life.
04:34I would love to repeat it.
04:37I want to play and to put Morocco where it deserves to be, among the best teams in the world,
04:43in order to play against Neymar or UmbapƩ or Spain, like happened in Russia.
04:48Of course, I would love to be back.
04:52At Qatar 2022, he was pivotal in Morocco's incredible run to the semi-finals,
04:58dinking a Penenka to seal a penalty shootout victory over Spain in the round of 16.
05:05It made him and his teammates national heroes.
05:11If they won the World Cup, we won the world. Our joy is indescribable.
05:18It is a joyous event for the Arab world and for Africa. It's only the beginning.
05:26King Mohammed VI invited the team to the Royal Palace in Rabat to hand out order of the throne vissams
05:32in honour of their performance.
05:37And a documentary was made celebrating the accomplishment and its impact on Morocco.
05:44But with Hakimi at his imperious best and Morocco still riding the crest of a wave, who knows how many
05:52more royal awards and movies might be coming his way in 2026.
05:56.
05:57.
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