Ayyoub Bouaddi

Ayyoub Bouaddi is a midfielder in Morocco's final 26-man squad for the 2026 World Cup, the list confirmed on 26 May 2026. He is 18 at kick-off, a central midfielder by trade. His club football is with Lille in Ligue 1.

Morocco are in Group C and open against Brazil at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford on 13 June, after winning their African qualifying group. Bouaddi is named among Morocco's midfielders, and is not the captain — Achraf Hakimi wears the armband for Morocco. He reaches the finals at 18, with his place among the 26 confirmed in late May.

Bouaddi is a central midfielder, the role he plays for Lille in Ligue 1. A central midfielder's job runs through the middle third — linking defence and attack and keeping possession moving — rather than sitting purely as a defender or pushing up as a forward.

That is the part of the pitch where Bouaddi operates at club level, in the centre of midfield. At 18, it is that midfield role he takes into Morocco's squad as one of their midfielders for the 2026 finals.

In Goal Rush, Bouaddi works the middle for Morocco — a central midfielder who links the lines and keeps possession moving rather than playing at either end of the pitch. Morocco's card values them at £17m in Tier 3, a price that sits within the game's £200m card budget.

That central role is his contribution, an 18-year-old midfielder helping Morocco knit their play together from box to box across a game.