Ziyad Baha: OM’s New Moroccan Striker

It had been in the pipeline for several weeks and the information was finally made official this Friday evening. At the beginning of December, several Moroccan media announced that young striker Ziyad Baha had joined the Olympique de Marseille training center and had even already started training with his new team. The information was finally made official by the player on his Instagram account more than a month later. “A new stage begins with Olympique de Marseille. I’ve been training and progressing in Marseille for a month now. After reflection, I chose to follow a different path, despite the opportunities to continue at Real Betis, because I wanted to take a step that corresponded to my ambitions and my development as a footballer. This new chapter is an opportunity to surpass myself every day, to continue learning and to take on new challenges at the highest level”he wrote on his networks.

Trained at FUS in Rabat and passed through Malaga then Real Betis, Ziyad Baha came to the end of his adventure in Spain contractually. And if the club tried to keep him, the player, for his part, wanted to discover a new challenge. Little known to the French public, the young 16-year-old striker is a well-followed figure in Moroccan football. And his impressive popularity on social networks (already more than 90,000 subscribers on Instagram) bears witness to this. But why? Because the young U17 international from Morocco is part of the brilliant Moroccan generation which won the U17 CAN a few months ago and reached the quarter-finals of the U17 World Cup last December.

An already established player

Coming from a family of footballers since his father, who is also the coach of Morocco U17, is none other than Nabil Baha, ex-Moroccan international (20 caps), Ziyad Baha quickly made a name for himself, just like his little sister Mayssa Baha who plays for FC Barcelona. And he started to make a name for himself during the CAN U17. Starting at the forefront of the attack, he scored 4 goals in the competition, including a double in the quarter-finals. Very skillful in front of goal and very strong physically despite his small size, the young Moroccan was on the other hand sometimes criticized for his lack of participation in his team’s offensive play. And he had also sometimes been taken aback by the supporters believing that he was “favoured” by his father, a coach who did not dare to put him on the bench.

During the last U17 World Cup, this was also the case. Except that coach Nabil Baha ended up, given the performance of his attacker and the possible elimination from the group, by putting him on the bench. And Morocco finally managed to qualify. This choice did a lot of good for Ziyad Baha, targeted by critics, and who was able to breathe to start scoring again. As a result, he ended up scoring 4 goals in the tournament, notably in the 8th round and in the quarter-finals against Brazil. Despite his young age, Ziyad Baha has been able to bounce back in a climate that is not particularly suitable. His complete attacking profile will be interesting to follow. And while Ajax wanted to get him back, their choice fell on OM with the desire to quickly knock on the door of the A. At only 16 years old, Ziyad Baha, who will be able to count on the advice of his father, will be a player to follow carefully.