Friends at the club, rivals in Monterrey: Morocco and the Netherlands meet in the 2026 World Cup round of 16

This Monday, in Monterrey, five Moroccan players will look across and recognise their opponents. Five of them have been or still are club teammates of Dutch players. At the 2026 World Cup, friendship stays in the dressing room.

A web of ties spanning European leagues

Ismael Saibari, the Atlas Lions’ top scorer in the competition with three goals, and Anass Salah-Eddine won the Dutch league a few weeks ago alongside Guus Til, midfielder of the Oranje – all with PSV Eindhoven. Left-back Noussair Mazraoui, who was born in the Netherlands and developed at Ajax, shared a dressing room with Frenkie de Jong and Ryan Gravenberch for years in Amsterdam and later reunited with Noa Lang at Club Brugge.

Achraf Hakimi closes the list. The Paris Saint-Germain defender shared a dressing room with striker Donyell Malen at Borussia Dortmund. It is no small thing: these are connections spread across the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium, built over years of shared training sessions and dressing rooms.

Friendship exists, but it does not step onto the pitch

Hakimi got straight to the point: no friendship within the four lines. Saibari was a little more lyrical – he said reuniting with Guus Til would be something “nice”, but that he had not even followed the Netherlands closely and would await the coach’s guidance. Salah-Eddine admitted he will “play against his best friends”, calling the match “fantastic”. Coach Mohamed Ouahbi cut through the romanticism: “They are Moroccans above all, and they are going to win this game.”

Ouahbi, who was born in Belgium, said he understands the feeling of those who grew up in another country and chose to defend Morocco’s colours. “It is very particular, because we are facing a country that gave us a lot,” he explained at a press conference. De Jong, a former teammate of Mazraoui at Ajax, defined the duel as “extremely difficult” and highlighted the African team’s cohesion.

What is at stake goes beyond the round of 16

For both national teams, the game carries extra weight. The Netherlands have lost three World Cup finals – in 1974, 1978 and 2010 – and remain in search of a title that has eluded them for decades. Morocco reached the semi-finals in Qatar in 2022 and, African champions by walkover this year, want a place in the tournament final for the first time in history.

The clash also resonates off the pitch: more than 400,000 people of Moroccan origin live in the Netherlands, making the game something close to a derby for part of the local crowd. Ronald Koeman acknowledged the weight of the match with pragmatism: “We are facing Morocco. That is fine.”