Meet the first American football league project in Morocco: The Moorish Ball

IQB, a Moroccan association for leadership and youth development held a press conference in Rabat on December 11 to present “The Moorish Ball,” the first American football league project in Morocco.

The initiative aims to implement the “student-athlete” status across Moroccan universities.

Present at the conference was Zac Oueldsidi, the founder of IQB organization and a player in the ‘Wataha Zielona Gora’ American football team in Poland.

Alongside Zac were representatives of the participating teams in The upcoming Moorish Ball game to take place in February, Yassine Tahiri, the coach of the international university of Rabat’s Bulldogs, and Nizar Bahar, the coach of Al Akhawayn’s university of Ifrane’s bulldogs, the Atlas Lions.

Mehdi Amine Mouftakir, the owner of ‘Lebyass’, the first American football gear brand in Morocco was present as an NFL (The National Football League) representative, Mark, joined via zoom call.

Zac Ouledsidi explained how this project, wants to implement the college athlete picture in all Moroccan universities through the Moorish ball’s annual event first, then gradually introducing various events and workshops to help the Moroccan youth become familiar with American football.

The project started with UIR and AUI, from people who demonstrated a huge love for American football on the field. Zac coached the UIR team for many years before his departure to Poland, and now he believes that it’s time to step things up and dream bigger.

Yassine took over coaching the team following Zac’s departure, and has been keeping the players on their feet since then.

“We choose the Moorish ball as a name,” said Zac, to implement Moroccan culture and how deeply rooted it is within the players.

The NFL representative, Mark, affirmed the league’s unwavering support of this Moroccan youth initiative.

“You guys put forward the effort and the work which is why you have our full support.”

One of the many purposes of this great initiative is to ‘expose’ players to international actors in the American football scene which will attract scouts.

Nizar, AUI’s team coach declared that this league is trying to set a good example for other universities to join and follow their steps.

One of the UIR players explained how playing on the team gave him a family and taught him respect and diligence.

As other universities find the courage to hop on board, Zac hopes to create other games besides the annual one.

After a long practicing session at the field and a few challenges, Mouftakir from Lebyass decided to award some of the players for their exceptional efforts, with field gear.

The fastest man award went to Ahmad Bouhmouch, while the best one-handed catch was a tie between  Walid Mili and Amine El Bettani.

Houssam Eddine El Alaoui was awarded for being the best receiver, and finally, Anass Meddah won the best defensive back.

This first event announced what will follow, the first official game featuring UIR’s Bulldogs and AUI’s Atlas Lions; to take place in Spring 2023.

This first Morocco and NFL alumni collaboration on American Football is a huge step toward implementing the sport in Moroccan universities, and making history, as the two coaches and Zac repeated.