00:04Ashraf Hakimi is the biggest name in Moroccan football and a player redefining the role of a right-sided defender.
00:15Still just 27 when the World Cup gets underway, Hakimi's CV is already the stuff of fantasy.
00:24At club level, he is a UEFA Champions League winner with two teams.
00:30He's celebrated major honours in four out of the big five European leagues.
00:36And he's been named in the team of the season in Italy, Germany and France.
00:46At international level, he's won an Olympic bronze medal, played in a World Cup semi-final and is on track
00:54to earn close to 200 caps.
00:59At the very top of his profession, Hakimi will be one of the individual stars of the 2026 World Cup.
01:11Born in Madrid to Moroccan parents, Hakimi was enrolled in the Real Madrid youth system.
01:17And he made his debut for Los Blancos in a pre-season friendly when he was only 17.
01:25Although low in the pecking order for a spot at right full-back, Hakimi was involved in the Real squad
01:31that ended the year as Champions League winners.
01:36At 19 years of age, he was the first Moroccan to claim the biggest prize in European club football.
01:45Real recognised Hakimi was too good to not be playing regular first-team football.
01:51So arranged alone with German giant Borussia Dortmund.
01:57In his first Champions League outing for Dortmund, he made three assists.
02:05Not long afterwards, he was measured as breaking the Bundesliga record for the top speed of a player in the
02:11competition.
02:14After two successful years at the Westfalenstadion, Real cashed in on their young asset, selling Hakimi to Internazionale.
02:23By the end of his first year at San Siro, he had a Serie A title.
02:29By now, Hakimi was recognised as one of the finest attacking right full-backs in the world.
02:34And it was little surprise when Paris Saint-Germain threw a fistful of dollars at Inter to add Hakimi to
02:41their roster of superstars.
02:46He was revealed at the Parc des Princes alongside Lionel Messi, Sergio Ramos and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
02:53And remains long after those higher-profile names have been deemed surplus to requirements.
03:02After an odyssey collecting European superclubs, Paris is where Hakimi looks set to spend the bulk of his career.
03:13My decision was very easy. You only have to see the roster of players, the ambition as a team, and
03:20that they wanted me here.
03:25So all that made it an easy decision.
03:28I am very happy, and I am looking forward to proving PSG made no mistake signing me.
03:38Paris is one of the cities with the biggest African and Muslim communities.
03:43And that was one of the main reasons to join them, because I identify with this community.
03:52I am very happy to come here and enjoy this culture.
03:55I want to learn new things with the French people.
04:02During his incredible rise in clubland, Hakimi has been turning out for Morocco.
04:08He has been a regular since 2017, and will be approaching a century of caps by the end of the
04:14World Cup.
04:16He was the youngest member of the squad at Russia 2018, and on field for every minute of play.
04:26I had the opportunity to play at the Russia World Cup, and it was an amazing feeling, one of the
04:32greatest experiences of my life.
04:35I would love to repeat it.
04:39I want to play, and to put Morocco where it deserves to be, among the best teams in the world,
04:45in order to play against Neymar, or Mbappé, or Spain, like happened in Russia.
04:50Of course, I would love to be back.
04:54At Qatar 2022, he was pivotal in Morocco's incredible run to the semi-finals, dinking a Panenka to seal a
05:02penalty shootout victory over Spain in the round of 16.
05:07It made him, and his teammates, national heroes.
05:12If they won the World Cup, we won the world. Our joy is indescribable.
05:20It is a joyous event for the Arab world and for Africa. It's only the beginning.
05:28King Mohammed VI invited the team to the Royal Palace in Rabat to hand out Order of the Throne Visums
05:34in honour of their performance.
05:39And a documentary was made celebrating the accomplishment and its impact on Morocco.
05:46But with Hakimi at his imperious best, and Morocco still riding the crest of a wave, who knows how many
05:54more Royal Awards and movies might be coming his way in 2026.
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