Student Spotlight - Anirudh Chakravarthy, Sports Culture in Morocco

As an American with a certain socio-economic status, I have had the privilege of traveling outside the United States before, to some countries in Europe and Asia. I love to watch and play all types of sports, so one of my main goals when I came to Rabat was to see the different sports that normal people in these countries play for fun.

While I had seen soccer before in the other countries, I had never seen a following of the sport as large and as passionate as Morocco. Almost every day in the Medina, I’ve seen young children in side roads passing the ball around. Along the beach, older kids and adults are always passing the ball around, and many even rent out mini fields to play with friends. The love of soccer isn’t limited to Rabat: on our day trip to Tangier, I saw a group of children setting up two makeshift goals to play in a field, each of them wearing their favorite jerseys on their back. In Chefchaouen, Tangier, Rabat, and Casablanca, regardless of age, everyone seems to have a soccer jersey of some sort! When the national team of Morocco starts playing, the TVs turn on, and the excitement can be felt throughout Rabat.

As an avid fan, I feel like Morocco is a beautiful place to experience sports and its interactions with Moroccan culture. If you like sports – or even if you don’t – the soccer community in Morocco is something to behold. Dima Maghrib!

Written by Anirudh Chakravarthy