Larbi Benbarek

Larbi Benbarek (Arabic: العربي بن مبارك; Tamazight: Lɛarbi ben-Bárək), also Ben Barek or Ben M'barek (16 June 1917 – 16 September 1992), was a Moroccan football player, who represented the France national team 17 times. He earned the sobriquet of the "Black Pearl" due to his technique and elegance on the ball, and is considered one of the greatest football players of all time, one of the first great African footballers, and the greatest French footballer prior to Raymond Kopa. Speaking on the Moroccan player, Pelé reportedly said: "If I am the king of football, Ben Barek is the god of football."

In a career interrupted by the Second World War, Benbarek became the first French footballer of international renown, as well as the first French footballer whose transfer to a foreign side, namely his move to Atlético Madrid in 1948, was the subject of high-level negotiations. He also represented the arrival of North African players to French football, and was one of the first players sought out by a French side from beyond the borders of Metropolitan France when he was signed by Marseille in 1938.

Despite not possessing a French passport, Benbarek led the French national team in the immediate post-war period, earning 17 caps over a span of nearly 16 years, which represented the longest international career by time span at the time, albeit that he only ever appeared in friendly matches for Les Bleus.

Benbarek was born on 16 June 1917 in Casablanca, then part of French Morocco. The son of a dockworker, he lost his father at a very young age, after which he was largely raised by his eldest brother Ali. He grew up playing football in the Ferme-Blanche quarter of Casablanca alongside classmates including future professional boxer Marcel Cerdan and fellow future professional footballer Abdelkader Hamiri, despite initial objections from his mother and his eldest brother.

At the age of 14, whilst working locally as a carpenter, he began playing with a local amateur football team by the name of FC El Ouatane, initially as an inside forward before being moved to the position of winger.

In 1934, aged 17, Benbarek made his debut for Casablanca-based side Idéal Club Marocain, who competed in the second division of Moroccan football. His first match would be a friendly against fellow Casablanca side US Marocaine, who were three-time champions of North Africa, in a fixture in which Benbarek scored twice. Benbarek had a strong impact on the side, helping them reach 3rd in the league, and helping them reach the final of the 1935 Coupe du Maroc, which they narrowly lost to RC Marocain. These successes led to him being selected for the Morocco national team for the first time.

In the summer of 1935, Benbarek was signed by US Marocaine, who offered him a job as a petrol station attendant for twenty francs a day, though rules of the time meant that he could only play for the club's reserve team for his first year. However, his performances there were still strong enough to earn him another call up. The following September, Benbarek was able to make his true debut with US Marocaine's first team, and he quickly attracted the attention of Metropolitan French clubs, which only intensified after an impressive display in a friendly between Morocco and France B in April 1937 earned him his first plaudits among the Metropolitan French press. His growing reputation led Marseille and their Hungarian coach József Eisenhoffer to come to Casablanca to try and recruit Benbarek, but talks were unsuccessful.

The following season, US Marocaine won the Ligue du Maroc before competing in the North African Championship. Following a 4—1 victory against Algerian side Joyeusetés d’Oran in the semi-final, they faced another Algerian side, JBAC Bône, in the final on the 12 June 1938, which the Moroccan side would lose 3—1 after extra time.