Larbi Benbarek

Early career

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.

US Marocaine

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…

Morocco

Benbarek was first called up to represent the Morocco national team in 1935 for a game against Oran, but was an unused substitute. He would again be called up for another match against Oran in 1936, and again for a fixture against France B in April 1937, which would draw the attention of the Metropolitan French press for the first time.

France

In December 1938, after only three months of playing in France with Marseille, popular demand saw Benbarek called up to the France national team for the first time by manager Gaston Barreau. Despite being born in a French protectorate, Benbarek did not actually possess a French passport, which should have disallowed him from being able to play for France in the eyes of FIFA, who require players to at minimum possess a passport from the country they are representing, but as FIFA never received any complaints about Benbarek playing for France, they never actually looked into the case. Consequently, he was able to make his debut for France on the 4 December 1938 in a 1—0 defeat against recent world champions Italy in Naples, where he, alongside fellow French player of African descent Raoul Diagne, was subjected to racist abuse. On the 22 January 1939, Benbarek played in a 4—0 win over Poland at the Parc des Princes and was involved in three of the four goals. Around this time, French sporting newspaper L'Auto launched an appeal to find a sobriquet for Benbarek, resulting in the name "the Black Pearl". Two months…

Benbarek played as a striker and as a sort of attacking midfielder, and was described as lively and powerful, as well as having exceptional technique and above-average stamina. In Morocco, he also played as a wing-half and as a centre-half. For nearly two decades, Benbarek captivated crowds with his jumping ability, passing skills, and dribbling, who was set apart by his elegance, fluidity, balance, and sense of showmanship. Fellow France legend Just Fontaine described Benbarek as having been in the same league as Pelé and Di Stefano, and attributes his lesser reputation to the fact that Benbarek largely played before television, and thus could not be watched by everyone as could latter players.

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.