2023-07-22 08:45:52
BarcelonaAt just three years old, Fatima Gharbi left her native Morocco in search of a better life in Europe. He and his family settled in Sabadell, a city he considers “wonderful” and in which he grew up and lives. Almost 20 years after leaving her country behind and growing up in Catalonia, she now celebrates with a smile from ear to ear having been called up with the Moroccan team, which will play for the first time in the Women’s World Cup, which is contested between Australia and New Zealand. On Monday, his national team debuts against Germany. “Representing Morocco is a matter of pride, a national feeling. I will compete on behalf of all the citizens. But it also makes me very happy to know that I will represent my clubs, the ones that have accompanied me throughout my entire career,” explains Fati, as she is known to her friends, to ARA.
This season is being a dream for the young player, 22 years old. She has achieved promotion to Primera RFEF – the second highest competition in state women’s football – with the EC Europa and just a few weeks ago she made her debut with Morocco in a friendly. Their invitation to the World Cup is a historic milestone for the Vila de Gràcia club: it is the first time they will have a representative in the highest competition in national team football. “I have known Fati for many years. This is the second season that I have coached her, but I have been following her for a long time. She has had a very complicated family life, but he has surrounded himself with very good people. And now it’s the World Cup. He deserves it, it fills me with pride and satisfaction. Not only for her as a player, but also as a person”, celebrates her coach at the Gracienc club, Joan Bacardit.
With Fatima Gharbi, Morocco has summoned “a footballer who has no spare” in Europe, according to its coach. “It’s very difficult to find left-handed players. We play with a 3-5-2, and Fati plays on the wing. She has been one of our team’s top assistants and is very dedicated: when we finish the games, she is one of the ones who have covered the most kilometers. She plays every minute,” explains Bacardit. “La Fati has grown with the club. She arrived in Europe after a complicated year for her at Espanyol, because she played very little. With us she has finished exploding and this has led to her ending up in the World Cup. I think that no one expected it. Her call-up is a reflection of all the good work of the team, of her and of all her teammates”, explains Jordi Colell, director of the Gracian entity, which is celebrating the two consecutive promotions of the women’s team, as well as that of the first men’s team in the Second RFEF, the fourth state football competition.
Fatima Gharbi “is a treasure”
“The rise of Europe is the result of great work by the entire women’s base, added to a great group of people, very well led, and an inexplicable amount of work,” explains Valentina Berr, Fati’s former dressing roommate. “Before being in Europe, I played for Llevant les Plaines, which also achieved two consecutive promotions in these categories, and although they are two different clubs, I always thought that if any team could repeat this milestone, it would be the Europa of Nany Haces and Joan Bacardit,” adds Berr. Both her ex-companion and Bacardit and Colell highlight Fati’s human quality. “She’s a treasure. It’s hard to find players with so much talent, so young and at the same time so simple. When the little girls came to say hello to me or ask for photos, they also asked me for her, she’s a very admired player. I think that was the last time, playing professional football, I felt the feeling of “I want to go play, because I’ll do it with her”. We blew up to score goals! And against teams with much more organization (and budget) than ours!” , highlights Berr.
After a very successful season – the initial goal was to maintain the category –, which Gharbi attributes to the “effort and courage” of the entire squad, as well as the “tremendous support of the fans in Europe”, he now awaits his debut in an official match with Morocco. Before that, he made his debut in a friendly against Italy. “The World Cup is a competition of the highest level and I am very excited to share a unique experience like this with the best in the world. I will be able to witness the best talent up close: observing the skill, technique and strategy of the best will motivate me to try even harder”, he explains.
The definitive news that he would go to the World Cup was given by Bacardit. “It was a day when we had to train. He came and said to me “Congratulations, eh!”. I didn’t understand what was happening and then he showed me the call. I started to cry. Lu, our physical trainer, also came and the three of us hugged. Then I celebrated in the dressing room with my teammates. Everyone was very happy for me”, she remembers. Fati is living a dream and Europe and her family celebrate it with pride. “When I was little and my mother asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, she said: “A soccer player, like Messi”. At first my family might have thought it strange that a girl wanted to play soccer, but since they saw that it was a passion, they never forbade me to do it.”
All his life combining football with studies
Fati has always combined football with studies. “This year has been very hard. I started studying social integration and doing internships throughout the year. Internships, lunch, studying, going to class… and going to train. Apart from that, I’m independent and I often have to do everything by myself. I would arrive at night and I had to make dinner and lunch for the next day, because many days I was out of the house from six in the morning until a quarter to eleven at night.” Now he is also away from home, specifically in Australia and New Zealand, where his eyes light up when he imagines making his debut in a World Cup.
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