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 Larbi Benbarek in 1940 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Abdelkader Larbi Ben Embarek | ||
| Date of birth | (1917-06-16)16 June 1917 | ||
| Place of birth | Casablanca,Morocco | ||
| Date of death | 16 September 1992(1992-09-16) (aged 78) | ||
| Place of death | Casablanca,Morocco | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position(s) | Forward,attacking midfielder | ||
| Youth career | |||
| 1931—1934 | FC El Ouatane | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 1934—1935 | Idéal Club Marocain | ||
| 1935—1938 | US Marocaine | ||
| 1938—1939 | Marseille | 30 | (10) |
| 1939—45 | US Marocaine | ||
| 1945—1948 | Stade Français | 87 | (43) |
| 1948—1953 | Atlético Madrid | 114 | (58) |
| 1953—1955 | Marseille | 31 | (13) |
| 1955—1956 | USM Bel Abbès | ||
| 1956—1957 | FUS Rabat | ||
| International career | |||
| 1935–1937 | Morocco (LMFA) | ? | (?) |
| 1938–1954 | France | 17 | (3) |
| Managerial career | |||
| 1956—1958 | FUS Rabat | ||
| 1957 | Morocco | ||
| 1958—1959 | USM Bel Abbès | ||
| 1960 | Morocco | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Larbi Benbarek (Arabic:العربي بن مبارك;Tamazight:Lɛarbi ben-Bárək), alsoBen Barek orBen M'barek (16 June 1917 – 16 September 1992), was a Moroccanfootball player, who represented theFrance national team 17 times.[1] He earned the sobriquet of the "Black Pearl" due to his technique and elegance on the ball, and is considered one of the greatest football players of all time,[2] one of the first great African footballers, and the greatest French footballer prior toRaymond Kopa. Speaking on the Moroccan player,Pelé reportedly said: "If I am the king of football, Ben Barek is the god of football."[3]
In a career interrupted by theSecond World War, Benbarek became the first French footballer of international renown, as well as the first French footballer whose transfer to a foreign side, namely his move toAtlético Madrid in 1948, was the subject of high-level negotiations. He also represented the arrival ofNorth African players to French football, and was one of the first players sought out by a French side from beyond the borders ofMetropolitan France when he was signed byMarseille in 1938.
Despite not possessing aFrench passport, Benbarek led the French national team in the immediate post-war period, earning 17 caps over a span of nearly 16 years, which represented the longest international career by time span at the time, albeit that he only ever appeared in friendly matches forLes Bleus.
Benbarek was born on 16 June 1917 inCasablanca,[1][2] then part ofFrench Morocco. The son of a dockworker, he lost his father at a very young age, after which he was largely raised by his eldest brother Ali.[4] He grew up playing football in the Ferme-Blanche quarter of Casablanca[5] alongside classmates including future professional boxerMarcel Cerdan and fellow future professional footballer Abdelkader Hamiri, despite initial objections from his mother and his eldest brother.
At the age of 14, whilst working locally as a carpenter, he began playing with a local amateur football team by the name of FC El Ouatane, initially as aninside forward before being moved to the position ofwinger.[4]
In 1934, aged 17, Benbarek made his debut for Casablanca-based side Idéal Club Marocain, who competed in the second division of Moroccan football.[6] His first match would be a friendly against fellow Casablanca side US Marocaine, who were three-timechampions of North Africa, in a fixture in which Benbarek scored twice. Benbarek had a strong impact on the side, helping them reach 3rd in the league, and helping them reach the final of the 1935 Coupe du Maroc, which they narrowly lost to RC Marocain. These successes led to him being selected for theMorocco national team for the first time.
In the summer of 1935, Benbarek was signed by US Marocaine, who offered him a job as a petrol station attendant for twentyfrancs a day, though rules of the time meant that he could only play for the club's reserve team for his first year.[4] However, his performances there were still strong enough to earn him another call up. The following September, Benbarek was able to make his true debut with US Marocaine's first team, and he quickly attracted the attention ofMetropolitan French clubs, which only intensified after an impressive display in a friendly between Morocco andFrance B in April 1937 earned him his first plaudits among the Metropolitan French press. His growing reputation ledMarseille and their Hungarian coachJózsef Eisenhoffer to come to Casablanca to try and recruit Benbarek, but talks were unsuccessful.
The following season, US Marocaine won the Ligue du Maroc before competing in theNorth African Championship. Following a 4—1 victory against Algerian side Joyeusetés d’Oran in the semi-final, they faced another Algerian side, JBAC Bône, in the final on the 12 June 1938, which the Moroccan side would lose 3—1 after extra time.[7]
Marseille were finally successful in signing Benbarak the following summer, beating off competition fromRed Star, and he arrived by ship toMarseille on 28 June 1938 as a relatively unknown 20-year old.[8] Benbarek made his first appearance for the club at centre-forward in a friendly against English third division sideSouthend United, scoring eight times in the match, before making his official debut on 24 November at theVélodrome againstParisian sideRacing Club de France. Facing up againstFrance national team centre-backAuguste Jordan, Benbarek scored twice as his side ran out 5-2 victors. In future matches, he dropped into the position ofinside left alongside HungarianVilmos Kohut, whilstEmmanuel Aznar led the line.
Despite having been initial favourites to win theChampionship, Marseille ultimately lost out in June due to a 1—0 defeat on the final day of the season toStrasbourg, resulting in the title instead going toSC Sètois. In his first season at Marseille, Benbarek had scored 12 goals. The following summer, he returned to Marseille before the start of the anticipated 1939/40 season, playing four friendly matches in preparation. However, the league was cancelled due to theoutbreak of war, which halted Benbarek's career, even if he himself was not called up to serve in the army as he was not a French citizen.[5]
Benbarek found refuge in Casablanca and returned to playing for US Marocaine.[8] DuringWorld War II, he won four back-to-back Moroccan league titles with the club, and even a North African Championship in 1942.
In May 1945, with thewar having come to an end in Europe, Casablanca welcomed a coaching course led byHelenio Herrera, during which Herrera convinced Benbarek to joinStade Français, whose president was assembling a star-studded team inParis.[4] Stade Français paid a reported fee of around a million francs for the Moroccan,[8] and Benbarek proved to be a key player in the side as they gained promotion to thetop flight, all whilst breaking revenue records. During his time at the club, he lived in a two-room apartment inBoulogne-Billancourt, opposite theRenault factories.
Over the following seasons, however, Benbarek was less impressive against a higher level of opposition, which led to fewer international call-ups, and eventually to the club's president deciding to cash in on his investment in the player, selling him to SpanishLa Liga sideAtlético Madrid in for a deal of 8 million francs and goalkeeperMarcel Domingo after three years with the club.[4]
In his first season with the Spanish club, Benbarek netted 6 times in 18 appearances as the side finished finished in the league. Atlético Madrid went on to win back-to-back league titles in1949—50 and1950—51, as well as the 1951Copa Eva Duarte (ancestor of theSpanish Super Cup),[9] however, with Benbarek netting double figures in both seasons, as he would proceed to do in the following two seasons as well.
In total, Benbarek scored over 60 goals in 120 games for the club, forming a front line known as the 'Crystal Attack' alongside teammatesHenry Carlsson andAdrián Escudero.[10] He also earned a new nickname for himself withles Colchoneros: "the Foot of God".[2] To this day, he remains one of Atlético Madrid's most legendary players, and is fondly remembered by fans of the club.
Benbarek returned toMarseille in December 1953, and went on to score 5 goals in the league and 5 more in theCoupe de France as his side reached the final, which they lost 2—1 to aJust Fontaine-ledOGC Nice.
In 1955, Benbarek signed withUSM Bel Abbès, in an Algeria in the midst of awar for liberation.[5][8] His new side finished runners-up of theOranie football league and reached the final of the North African Cup, where they were set to playSC Bel Abbès. The final was called off, however, due to the competition being suspended after the withdrawal of sides from Morocco,Constantine, andTunisia.
The following season, he received a request from Crown PrinceMoulay El-Hassan to return to his home country in order to lend his services and expertise to the improvement of Moroccan football. He thus signed forFUS Rabat in the capacity of player-coach, and after one season with the club, he officially called an end to his professional football career at the age of 40, committing instead to his coaching career.[4]
Benbarek was first called up to represent theMorocco national team in 1935 for a game againstOran, but was an unused substitute.[4] He would again be called up for another match against Oran in 1936, and again for a fixture againstFrance B in April 1937, which would draw the attention of theMetropolitan French press for the first time.[6]
In December 1938, after only three months of playing in France withMarseille, popular demand saw Benbarek called up to theFrance national team for the first time by managerGaston Barreau.[1][5] Despite being born in a French protectorate, Benbarek did not actually possess a French passport, which should have disallowed him from being able to play for France in the eyes ofFIFA, who require players to at minimum possess a passport from the country they are representing, but as FIFA never received any complaints about Benbarek playing for France, they never actually looked into the case.[11] Consequently, he was able to make his debut for France on the 4 December 1938 in a 1—0 defeat against recentworld championsItaly inNaples, where he, alongside fellow French player of African descentRaoul Diagne, was subjected to racist abuse.[8]
On the 22 January 1939, Benbarek played in a 4—0 win overPoland at theParc des Princes and was involved in three of the four goals.[12] Around this time, French sporting newspaperL'Auto launched an appeal to find a sobriquet for Benbarek, resulting in the name "the Black Pearl".[8][11] Two months later, he netted his first international goal againstHungary in a 2—2 draw, and two months after that contributed to a 3—1 victory overBelgium.
In 1943, during theSecond World War which Benbarek spent back in Casablanca having not been called up for the army as he was not legally a French citizen, he featured for a North African team in a match against a French exiles team. He scored an equaliser in the game from a cross from future world champion boxerMarcel Cerdan, and the fixture ended as a 1-1 draw.[4]
Benbarek's return to France withStade Français in 1945 allowed him to once again be called up by France, but he didn't shine in two away defeats in late 1945 against Austria and Belgium.[5] He made four more appearances for France in April and May 1946, including France's first victory againstEngland.
Due to less impressive club form following Stade Français' promotion to thetop flight,[4] Benbarek received fewer call-ups over the next two years, only appearing twice in 1947 in two fixtures againstPortugal, including a home victory in March and a 4-2 away defeat in November which he scored in. He earned more caps in 1948, however, appearing in two defeats against Italy and Belgium, the latter of which he scored his third and final international goal in, and in two victories againstScotland andCzechoslovakia.[1]
Benbarek's 1948 move to Spanish sideAtlético Madrid was poorly received in France, and led to him not appearing in the national side for another six years due to the relationship between club and national sides at the time, as clubs tended to refuse to free up foreign players for national team selections and football federations were unwilling to pay the cost of the return journey.[11]
Having returned to Marseille and France in December 1953, Benbarek took part in early October 1954 in a charity match at the Parc des Princes for victims of the1954 Chlef earthquake inAlgeria, playing in aNorth Africa XI against France, which the North African side would win 3-2.[8][13] Benbarek's performance in the match and his prestige were such that the French public successfully demanded his re-inclusion in the national team. He was included, aged 37, in the French squad to playWest Germany inHanover on the 16 October 1954,[1][2] a fixture which he started in. Unfortunately, however, he was injected within half an hour, and had to be taken off, which would also represent the end of his international career.[4][5]
One of the finest players ever to represent France, he made a total of 17 appearances and scored 3 goals forLes Bleus between 1938 and 1954. At 37 years and 4 months old at the time of his final appearance, he held the record of oldest player to ever represent France for a long time, but has since been passed byBernard Lama andSteve Mandanda. Benbarek still holds the record, however, of the longest career with the France national team, spanning 15 years and 10 months from his debut in December 1938 to his final appearance in October 1954, as of September 2025.[1] He is also one of only four Moroccans to have played for France, and the only one to have earned a double digits number of caps.[14]
Benbarek played as astriker[8] and as a sort ofattacking midfielder,[2] and was described as lively and powerful,[5] as well as having exceptional technique and above-average stamina.[6] In Morocco, he also played as awing-half and as acentre-half.
For nearly two decades, Benbarek captivated crowds with his jumping ability, passing skills, and dribbling, who was set apart by his elegance, fluidity, balance, and sense of showmanship. FellowFrance legendJust Fontaine described Benbarek as having been in the same league asPelé andDi Stefano, and attributes his lesser reputation to the fact that Benbarek largely played before television, and thus could not be watched by everyone as could latter players.[2]
After his retirement from playing, Benbarek continued managingFUS Rabat, and in 1957 was charged with preparing theMorocco national team for thesecond edition of the Arab Games inBeirut,Lebanon. At the games, Morocco managed to holdIraq to a draw and defeatLibya andTunisia, which earned them the gold medal. Benbarek was then dismissed by theRoyal Moroccan Football Federation.[4]
In 1958, he accepted the position of coach at his former clubUSM Bel Abbès for one season.
In 1960, Benbarek returned to coach Morocco for one final time, before severing ties with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation for good
Larbi Ben Barek died in his hometown on 16 September 1992, alone and in dire poverty, with his body only discovered three days after his death.[15]
Six years after his death, he was awarded theFIFA Order of Merit,FIFA's highest honour, and KingHassan II renamed theStade Philip to the Larbi Benbarek Stadium in his honour. In December 2020,French PresidentEmmanuel Macron named Benbarek as one of the prominent figures from overseas territories, former colonies, or immigrant backgrounds who had helped shapeFrance, in an effort to encourage honouring such figures by naming streets and public buildings after them.[8]
US Marocaine
Atlético de Madrid[16]
Morocco (LMFA)
Recognitions
