Larbi Benbarek

Larbi Benbarek, born in Tata and died on September 16, 1992 in the same city, is a Franco-Moroccan footballer. He had the longest career in the France team from 1938 to 1954.

Nicknamed “the Black Pearl”, he was, during his career in Morocco, France and Spain, an adored star because of his technique and his great elegance in all his gestures. Specialists consider him one of the best footballers of all time. Pelé thus says: “If I am the King of football, then Ben Barek is the God”. In addition, he has received numerous distinctions from the most prestigious sports federations and the media.

Officially born in 1917, Larbi Benbarek could actually be born in 1914, this date will be changed to allow him to play at USM. Other sources, less credible, indicate 1916 and 1913 as the year of birth. Referring to the presentation guide for the 1945-1946 season of Ce Soir-Sprint, a journalist comments: “Larbi Benbarek, born in 1917, a day he does not know”. Thus, the year, but also the day of birth remain uncertain.

He was born in Agadir N’tissent, a small village in the province of Tata in the south of the Anti-Atlas. As a young orphan, he grew up with his father, a worker specializing in boat repairs, in the Cuba district of Casablanca and played football in the street with the children of his neighborhood. From the age of 14, he practiced his father’s old trade: carpenter. Larbi’s older brother, Ali, becomes a real role model after the disappearance of the father of the family2.

It was at this age that he began to play with Football Club El Ouatane3, a small neighborhood amateur team, from 1930 to 1934.

In 1934, he made his debut with the Ideal Club of Casablanca, a modest club in the Moroccan second division. During his very first match under the colors of Ideal, Larbi faces the formidable formation of USM Casablanca, three-time winner of the North African championship. He scored twice during this game and actively helped the Ideal to win a good 3rd place in the league. In the Moroccan Cup, Larbi Benbarek and l’Idéal reached the final (1935), but lost on the wire against RC Marocain. During this match, he is impressive and the Moroccan press showers him with praise. In the process, he was selected for the first time with the regional team of the League of Morocco which faces the regional team of the League of Oran.

The USM of Casablanca then recruited him by providing him with a job as a gas station attendant. This transfer implies that he plays a full season in reserve. Despite this situation, he is still selected for the Morocco team. Larbi really started with USM Casablanca in September 1936 and notably played with the coqistes in the final of the ULNAF Champions League final on June 12, 1938 against USM Bône in Algiers. JBAC won 3-1 over USM Benbarek. He very quickly attracted the attention of major metropolitan clubs. A Morocco-France.B friendly match played in April 1937 earned him his first glowing articles in the metropolitan press. Olympique de Marseille secures his services in June 1938. USM Casablanca does not easily let go of its player, but finally accepts Marseille’s offer of 44,000 francs after having refused a first offer from the same Olympique de Marseille at the start of the summer of 1937.

Larbi Benbarek landed in Marseilles on June 28, 1938. Five months after his arrival in mainland France4, he obtained French nationality. He made his first appearance in the French team in the volcanic atmosphere of Naples on December 4, 1938 against Italy. The Italian public whistles copiously the French, and Benbarek in particular. The Italians are sleeping… in reaction to these whistles, Larbi then sings La Marseillaise at full throttle. This reaction was widely taken up by the media, and he was then totally adopted by all the French supporters, who knew him very little until then. He then began the longest career ever signed by a player in the jersey struck by the rooster: 15 years and 10 months.

In 1939, Benbarek returned to Casablanca during the Second World War and then moved back to US Marocaine. Being a real sportsman, he also had a basketball career, he was an official player of the Wydad AC (Basketball) team, and signed in 1942 to wear the Wydad AC (Football) club jersey with a “B” license , but had problems with the contract of his mother club so he returned to USM Casablanca. After the end of the war, in 1945, the president of the Stade Français set up a team of stars in Paris. It is one of the centerpieces under the direction of Helenio Herrera. When the Stadium is dispersed a

ux four winds after three years of star system, he finds himself at Atlético de Madrid in Spain for a transfer fee of 17 million francs at the time, which represents the most important transfer in Spain at this time- there5,6. Between 1948 and 1953, he won two Spanish championship titles (1950 and 1951) and made an impression, even if he no longer played for the France team.

Benbarek joined Olympique de Marseille at the end of his career. With OM, he played in a French Cup final lost to Nice. During his Olympian stay, he honored his last selection for the France team on October 16, 1954 in Hanover against West Germany in a friendly. This late selection is due to the public at the Parc des Princes. Nine days before the match to oppose the blues to the reigning world champions, Larbi is radiant during a friendly game disputed at the Park: France-North Africa (2-3). He plays this meeting in the jersey of North Africa, but his performance and his prestige are such that the public demands and obtains his selection with the Blues. Unfortunately in Hanover, Larbi Benbarek is the victim of a muscular problem and must leave the field after 27 minutes of play against the Germans.

Larbi Benbarek signed with the Bel-Abbès Muslim Sports Union as a player-coach during the 1955-1956 season under coach Lacaze. Vice-champion of Oranie, the USMBA reaches the final of the North African Cup against the Sporting Club of Bel-Abbès, champion of Oranie match not played because of the cessation of competitions after the independence of Morocco and Tunisia. After that, he received a request from the crown prince and future king Hassan II to return to his country to put his experience at the service of Moroccan football, he then signed with the FUS of Rabat as a player-coach, and after a season with the capital club, he officially put an end to his career as a professional footballer at the age of 41, and will therefore continue his career as a coach. In 1958, he accepted the position of coach of USM Bel-Abbès for a season7. He then played as a maroon amateur in Belgium, as confirmed by Michel Hidalgo in the documentary Des Noirs en couleurs broadcast on Canal+ in June 2008. His career as a player ended, he became a coach.

Larbi Ben Barek died on September 16, 19928 in solitude, his body was only discovered three days after his death. On June 8, 1998 in Paris, FIFA awarded him, posthumously, the medal of the Order of Merit, and King Hassan II renamed the Philip stadium into the Larbi Benbarek stadium to pay tribute to his soul.

Larbi Benbarek remains one of Atletico Madrid’s most iconic players, regularly appearing in aficionados’2 legend XIs.

He also remains the international with the longest career (fifteen years and ten months) in the France2 team.