The Atlas Lions have won another tug-of-war for a dual-national prospect. Ayoub Oufkir, the 20-year-old AZ Alkmaar winger who helped the Netherlands lift the 2025 Under-19 European Championship, told the KNVB this week that he will represent Morocco at senior level.

Xavi Hernández, whose contract with the Oranje runs through 2030, accepted the player’s decision in public and said his staff had done all they could.

“We did everything we could and ultimately it’s a player’s decision,” Xavi told Dutch reporters after Oufkir’s choice was conveyed to the Dutch federation.

Oufkir, born in Rotterdam, had featured for the Netherlands Under-21 side in European qualifying this autumn before Morocco handed him his first senior call-up last week.

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Nigel de Jong and Michael Reiziger lost their pitch

The KNVB had moved heavily to keep him. Football director Nigel de Jong and Under-21 head coach Michael Reiziger both met the AZ player before his decision, with De Jong calling the final outcome a blow.

“We are disappointed that Ayoub has chosen to represent Morocco,” the former Dutch international said after the decision.

AZ head coach Leeroy Echteld, who was previously an assistant with the Netherlands Under-21s, said he had put the Oranje case to the player himself.

“I spoke to Ayoub about this. Initially, you try to steer a player towards the Netherlands, but ultimately, it’s his decision, and I told him to trust his instincts,” Echteld told reporters before AZ’s Europa League tie with Juventus.

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Morocco keeps drawing from the Dutch production line

Under head coach Mohamed Ouahbi, Morocco has leaned on European-based dual-nationals through its qualifying programme. The federation added the 2026 Africa Cup of Nations to its trophy cabinet earlier this year, sharpening its pull on talent across the continent and the diaspora.

Hakim Ziyech, Sofyan Amrabat, Noussair Mazraoui and, most recently, Abdellah Ouazane were all raised in the Netherlands before opting for the Atlas Lions. The pattern has Dutch commentators divided.

Mike Verweij argued that “FIFA or the KNVB should take action” so that developing federations are compensated when youth internationals switch, while fellow journalist Valentijn Driessen rejected that line and said “the boy simply has the freedom to choose. Just as the KNVB also had the freedom to select him or not,” according to africasoccer.com.

Oufkir can earn his first senior cap when Morocco face Niger in Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers on 13 and 17 November.

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