Football: Underdogs Auckland City seek inspiration

If Auckland City are seeking inspiration in Morocco during their Fifa Club World Cup campaign next month, they won't need to look too far. Photo / Phototek.

If Auckland City are seeking inspiration in Morocco during their Fifa Club World Cup campaign next month, they won't need to look too far.

The ASB Premiership side will again be battling massive odds at Fifa's premier club tournament, as the amateur team comes up against fully professional teams from around the world.

But Morocco isn't short of great sporting underdog stories. Remember Said Aouita, who won 5000m Olympic gold in Los Angeles in just his second year of international competition? Aouita, who hailed from the small coastal city of Kenitra, went on to break four world records across three distances (1500m, 3000m, 5000m) in a storied career.

In 1986 Morocco's football team became the first African team to qualify for the knock out stages of a Football World Cup. The Altas Lions, with 17 of their 23-man squad derived from the domestic league, were in the group of death but did it in style, finishing ahead of England, Poland and Portugal.

Or what about Abdelatif Benazzi? After taking up rugby at a relatively late age he was discovered by a third division French side whilst on tour with the Moroccan national team in Czechoslovakia. Less than three years later he had won a spot in Les Bleus and went on to play 78 times for France, including three World Cups.

And then there is Nawal el-Moutawakel, who caused one of the biggest surprises in Olympic history 30 years ago. Before she ran no Muslim woman had ever won gold at the Olympic Games; indeed it was thought in many Muslim countries that women couldn't, or shouldn't, achieve anything in a sporting sense. In 54.61 seconds El-Moutawakel changed everything.

"My victory had a great impact for Moroccan women, African women, Arabic women," said el-Moutawakel, who quickly became an iconic figure for Muslim women throughout the world. "I feel like I opened the door for women competing in sport."

She received a personal phone call from the King Hassan II soon after the race, who told her how proud the country was. The King also declared that all girls born that day should be named after her.

El-Moutawakel had overcame huge obstacles; when she was a teenager in the 1970s even having a female going to train at the track was frowned upon by many sectors of the conservative Moroccan society. Some critics thought the diminutive El-Moutawakel (1.62m) was too short to be a top class hurdler and even in Los Angeles she had to overcame highly rated runners like Judi Brown (USA) and the Australian Debbie Flintoff-King.

"There were a lot of people who never had the chance to attend an Olympic games," said El-Moutawakel, who was the only female athlete on Morocco's 1984 team. "[So for me] to win was something sensational and I am very proud to have participated in the promotion of women in the Olympic Games and the sports movement..and to continue today to make everyone believe that women are capable of overcoming many challenges."

El-Moutawakel has dedicated her life in sport, serving as minister of sport in the Moroccan government, as a council member on the IAAF and is currently a high ranking member of the International Olympic Committee.

"The hurdles were like a school of life," said El-Moutawakel. "Sport certainly changed my life. I have long realised the power of sport [and] I am very happy to have understood the value of sport."