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The Netherlands is supporting the Atlas Lions as their journey at the 2018 World Cup is to start tomorrow in Russia. Videos, posts and hashtags are all over the internet in the European country, cheering for the colors of the young African team and the reason is Moroccan footballer Hakim Ziyech and many others.
Many of the Moroccan squad’s members were born in the Netherlands, which led several Dutch stars to stand by the Atlas Lions in the international tournament.
According to online newspaper ED.nl, the initiative started through an online show called «Alle ballen op Ziyech» (all balls to Ziyech) shot at Moroccan-Dutch former footballer Driss Boussatta’s coffee shop in Amsterdam.
«They wear Morocco’s jersey, but they grew up in Dronten, Huizen and so on», says Boussatta. In his show, Dutch stars voice their support for the Kingdom all while trying to speak Moroccan Arabic in a funny yet touching way.
Born in the Netherlands
The show recorded videos of several well-known people, which went viral on the internet starting a new challenge. «The idea was initiated by the show ‘Alle ballen op Ziyech’ but got popular later and became some sort of a viral challenge», Moroccan-Dutch social innovator Ahmed Larouz told Yabiladi on Thursday.
Many famous figures such as former Barcelona player Patrick Kluivert, Dutch footballer Wesley Sneijder, and former Ajax manager Louis van Gaal followed the trend posting videos of themselves showing support for the Atlas Lions and even singing in Arabic.
The objective of this initiative consists in showcasing how the two nations are connected. «These players are famous here (Netherlands), they were born here and studied in Dutch schools and as Holland is not participating to the World Cup we choose to stand by the Atlas Lions», Larouz explained.
Other famous Moroccan-Dutch artists and influencers such as Moroccan-Dutch rapper Ali B and comedian Najib Amhali participated to the initiative asking their friends to shoot short videos and post them on the internet.
For the record, attacking midfielder Hakim Ziyech, defensive midfielder Karim El Ahmadi, winger Nordin Amrabet, and midfielder Sofyan Amrabet, who were all born in the Netherlands, are to play Friday in St. Petersburg with the Atlas Lions against Iran in the team’s first World Cup match.
