Lamine Yamal said his desire to compete to win a World Cup drove his decision to represent Spain over Morocco, admitting he "never really had a doubt" about playing for the country of his birth.

The Barcelona star was a youth international for Spain and made his debut for the senior team at the age of 16 in 2023, doing so in a Euro 2024 qualification match against Georgia. That appearance cap-tied him to Spain but before that, Yamal was eligible to represent Morocco, where his father was born. Yamal said he did contemplate playing for Morocco, especially after they became the first African team to reach the World Cup semifinals in 2022, but was essentially always intent on representing Spain.

"The truth is that it was something strange because it was something on my mind, 'Hey, I could p

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