Amsterdam exhibition celebrates Moroccan and Dutch football legends through string art

Moroccan artist Abdelghafour El Maftouhi unveiled an exhibition in Amsterdam on Monday featuring a series of string art portraits celebrating some of the biggest names in Moroccan and Dutch football.

Titled «Art and Football: The Game as Canvas», the exhibition is being held at the Amsterdam Public Library through July 3 at the initiative of the Tamuda Foundation for Art and Culture. It showcases around ten portraits created using string art, a technique in which thread serves as the primary medium of artistic expression.

The exhibition explores the intersection of art, culture and football, using the sport as a vehicle for visual storytelling. Through the meticulous layering, crossing and tensioning of threads, El Maftouhi creates portraits that appear abstract at close range but gradually reveal recognizable faces when viewed from a distance.

His works pay tribute to some of Morocco's greatest football icons, including Mustapha El Haddaoui, Badou Zaki, Mohamed Timoumi, Hakim Ziyech, Yassine Bounou and Sofyan Amrabat, alongside Dutch legends such as Johan Cruyff.

Speaking to MAP, El Maftouhi said the exhibition is the eighth in a series he has organized in the Netherlands and follows a first presentation on the same theme recently held at the Mohamed El Fassi Gallery in Rabat.

He said the exhibition celebrates Moroccan football at a time when it continues to gain international recognition. As an artist proud of the Kingdom's sporting achievements, he believes it is his responsibility to showcase those successes and contribute, through his work, to promoting Moroccan football abroad.

For his part, Tamuda Foundation director Emad Ghajjou said the exhibition was brought to the Netherlands following the success of its Rabat edition. He noted that it highlights iconic figures from both Moroccan and Dutch football while fostering cultural dialogue through art.

«Art and Football: The Game as Canvas» invites visitors to discover a world where sport inspires artistic creation, with facial features and expressions brought to life through carefully stretched threads.