The Moroccan national team is among the highest in the world in terms of the number of professional players abroad.
The Moroccan national team will participate in the 2026 World Cup as one of the most globally diverse teams in the tournament; 94% of its players are professionals outside the Moroccan league, a percentage that far exceeds the global average of 72%.
A recent study conducted by "Finalarm," a German financial portal, and "DataPulse," a data analysis studio, revealed that three-quarters of the players participating in the 2026 World Cup play for teams outside their home countries.
The study indicated that until 1990, only one in four players on national teams played abroad, with a percentage not exceeding 26%. Today, this figure has risen to nearly three out of four players, estimated at 72%.
It pointed out that the "Bosman" ruling is one of the key factors contributing to this increase, as this law, issued in 1995, stipulated that a football player has the right to negotiate with any club he wishes to join during the last six months of his contract with his current club, without needing to consult the management.
The same study, which included the 48 teams participating in the 2026 World Cup, with a deeper focus on several prominent teams such as Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, Germany, England, France, Italy, Mexico, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden, Spain, South Korea, and the United States, recorded a development in this percentage among most teams. The percentage of professionals in France, which has the fifth strongest league in Europe, reached 69%, while the percentage was high in Argentina at 92% and in Brazil at 73%, indicating that European clubs heavily rely on acquiring players from these two nationalities.
The study noted that in the 1998 World Cup, no Spanish or English player was playing outside their country, as everyone was contracted with their local clubs. However, today, by the time of the 2026 World Cup, the situation has changed; the percentage of professionals abroad is 19% in England and 35% in Spain.