Highlights: Moroccan supporters have been mobilizing to support Walid Regragui and his players. After a journey of 6,000 kilometers across five countries in five months, the man placed his van facing the Atlantic Ocean. Aznzar is a star among Moroccan supporters present in Ivory Coast. The fans of the Cherifian kingdom are capable of moving mountains to encourage their team. At 46 years old, nothing seems to stop this fan of Hassania Union Sport in Agadir in Morocco.

Since the start of the CAN in Ivory Coast, Moroccan supporters have been mobilizing to support Walid Regragui and his players. Meeting with one of the Atlas Lions fans, who made a long journey…

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CAN 2024: Ivory Coast, San Pedro, and its atypical Moroccan supporters

Since the start of the CAN in Ivory Coast, Moroccan supporters have been mobilizing to support Walid Regragui and his players. Meeting with one of the Atlas Lions fans, who made a long trip by van from Morocco.

Aznzar, Morocco supporter, in front of his van in San Pedro in Ivory Coast. © Farid Achache / RFI

By: Farid Achache Follow

From our special correspondent in San Pedro,

After a journey of 6,000 kilometers across five countries in five months, the man placed his van facing the Atlantic Ocean. Having left Agadir in Morocco, he has been in San Pedro since the start of the CAN to follow the Atlas Lions. And since his arrival in the city, curious people have been marching to greet him, like these three friends of Guinean origin, who want to take his photo. Aznzar is a star among Moroccan supporters present in Ivory Coast.

Lift mountains to encourage your team

Just like this young man who came from Morocco by bike, who has become almost a local figure in San Pedro, whom we meet every day in the streets of the city. Or this group of friends who made the journey in a Renault 4L, produced from 1961, in 28 countries, including Morocco. And without forgetting this young hairdresser, who arrived in San Pedro by… hitchhiking. He had his pair of scissors in his luggage to make a little money along the way.

The fans of the Cherifian kingdom are capable of moving mountains to encourage their team. The twelfth man, the power of his encouragement, is anything but an image of Epinal among Moroccan supporters.

For Aznzar, this journey goes beyond the love of football. Wearing his tunic in the country's colors, he went to meet the population of the regions he crossed, gave balloons in the villages and pens to the children. “

I had the idea of doing the same thing during the CAN in Cameroon in 2022, but it was complicated with the Covid story

,” Aznzar explains to us. In 2018, he had intended to travel to Russia in a Renault 4L. His project had fallen through, he had not obtained all the necessary visas.

Moroccan supporters during the World Cup in Qatar in 2022. © LUSA - JOSE SENA GOULAO

A journey to explore African solidarity

Since the 2017 CAN in Gabon, Aznzar has always traveled to applaud his players: in Egypt, Russia and Qatar. But never alone in a “

traveling house

”. “

This is a first for me. It’s a magnificent adventure

,” slips the one who would like to repeat the experience to follow the Moroccan athletes during the Paris 2024 Olympics. As he says himself, the Moroccans are certainly the most fervent supporters behind the Argentinians. Going to travel the world, often without much means, does not scare them.

Aznzar also has the crazy project of doing the same thing for the Asian Cup and the Copa América! At 46 years old, nothing seems to stop this fan of Hassania Union Sport in Agadir in Morocco, Jeunesse sportif de Kabylie in Algeria and Boca Junior in Argentina.

Above all, Aznzar has a message to send to African football stars. “

We must build academies on this continent. There are a lot of children who have talent

,” says the one who talks about a social project, talking about his trip. “

We are capable of being united among ourselves on this continent,” he said. I am happy to present and represent Morocco here in San Pedro

.” And he is not the only one, for several years, large Moroccan groups have been investing in Ivory Coast.

From now on, Aznzar is crossing his fingers for a final victory for the Atlas Lions. At the end of the competition, he should put his vehicle on a boat and fly home. “

I’m not very young anymore, I have to take care of myself

,” he jokes. This evening, he will have a quiet dinner facing the sea, with the sound of the waves as background music, before contemplating the starry sky while lying on his hammock. Its paradise in short.

CAN 2024: Ivory Coast, San Pedro, and its atypical Moroccan supporters

CAN 2024: Ivory Coast, San Pedro, and its atypical Moroccan supporters

Lift mountains to encourage your team

A journey to explore African solidarity

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