President of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation (FRMF) Fouzi Lekjaa has reportedly claimed that "Lamine Yamal" is not the Barcelona star's real name.
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Lamine Yamal's rise to stardom has been nothing short of spectacular. The 17-year-old enjoyed a memorable season with the Blaugrana, winning La Liga, the Copa Del Rey and the Supercopa de España.
That followed on from Yamal's Euro 2024 triumph with Spain just one year ago, and it is the La Masia academy graduate's Spanish allegiance that has caused outrage from Lekjaa.
Previous reports suggest that Morocco coach Walid Regragui had tried to persuade Yamal to play for the Atlas Lions instead of La Roja, through his father's allegiance.
"Lamine Yamal is a generational star that we tried to bring into the Moroccan national team, but it wasn't possible," Regragui said.
According to Afrik-Foot, Lekjaa spoke in an interview with L'Equipe and said that there was a small difference between nationality and sporting nationality.
"We must differentiate between nationality as such and sporting nationality," Lekjaa said. "The sporting choice is made based on each country's sporting project, the player's ambition, and the country's ambition. This must be respected. But this has no impact on the origins "not chosen" by the player, he continued.
The 54-year-old followed that up with a surprise admission about the teenager's real name, claiming he was actually called 'Amine Jamal'.
"Lamine Yamal's real name is Amine Jamal; he decided to play for the Spanish national team," Lekjaa said.
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"No one has contested his choice; everyone follows his matches with enthusiasm and wishes him the greatest success. The more he prospers, the more he will set an example to young Moroccans, since he is Moroccan," he admitted.
