New signing Ismael Saibari in '51' portrait | OneFootball

Ismael Saibari was one of the breakout players at the World Cup, now he's wearing our shirt. His journey to this point started with a diagnosis that could've ended everything before it had even begun.

It’s the night of 30 June, round of 32 in the 2026 World Cup, penalty shootout between Morocco and Netherlands – the country in which Ismael Saibari matured into a complete player over the last six years. Our new signing places the ball, runs up, and converts the decisive spot-kick. Morocco are through to the next round, and by now the whole football world knows Saibari’s name.

He’d already scored three goals there, against Brazi, Scotland and Haiti, showing why FC Bayern had been trying to sign him long before the tournament. His World Cup may have come to a bitter end, but that’s part of the story: in the last 16 against Canada, Saibari sustained a muscle injury that forced him to miss the quarter-final against France. Morocco were eliminated without him. However, anyone who knows his journey knows: this player can cope with setbacks.

The first battle

The first prediction that Saibari confounded was nothing to do with his goalscoring figures. It concerned the question of whether he’d ever be able to even walk properly. His parents Hassan and Fatima left Morocco for Spain in the late 1980s, and after a spell in Almería, they moved to Terrassa, a city just outside Barcelona. That’s where Ismael was born on 28 January 2001 – with a birth defect. Both feet were turned sharply inward; the doctors weren’t sure whether he’d ever walk normally.

Yet his parents refused to accept that and enabled their son to undergo a lengthy period of treatment. After almost a year, the defect was corrected – with splints, orthopaedic aids and rehab measures, step by step. The persistence paid off: at the age of two, Ismael took his first steps unaided – and his first big battle was won. It wasn’t long before the little “Isma” discovered football.

The family lived in Carrer d‘Europa, in a working-class district on the outskirts of Terrassa that was built for people moving from other parts of Spain or from abroad. Ismael got his first experiences of club football at Club Deportivo Can Parellada – and immediately stood out, in particular with his shooting power. It didn’t happen by accident. Dad Hassan made him take 50, 60 shots a day, only with his left foot. “At the beginning I hated it,” says Saibari later. “In the end it paid off.” From Monday to Sunday he was on the pitch, and got told off for staying behind after training and disturbing the other teams. If they were a player short anywhere, he’d just get changed and join in. Akram, his older brother, explains: “He was always in love with the ball. Isma wanted to play constantly.”

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A new home

In 2007, the life of the family changed overnight. Dad Hassan lost his job as a bricklayer, and the grocery store he opened together with Fatima didn’t survive the financial crisis. “We had to start from scratch again,” says Akram. Ismael was six when the Saibaris had to pack their suitcases again and move to Belgium, to a suburb of Antwerp. The brothers initially played at KVC Willebroek and then at Beerschot AC, which went into administration in June 2013. Ismael joined the academy of RSC Anderlecht – only to be released two years later. The reasons were tough for a teenager to take: too heavy, not fit enough, not up to the standards required in elite-level sport. Many dreams quietly fall apart at this age, but his just took on a different form. He changed his diet, intensified his training, rebuilt his physique – and turns a supposed weakness into his biggest strength. Today, the 1.85-meter midfielder impresses with his strength in challenges, his ability to hold up the ball, and his knack for breaking down defensive lines.

Saibari found a new home in the academy of KRC Genk, where he won the Belgian under-21 championship in 2019 – ahead of none other than his former club. “Isma played for Genk against Anderlecht, his team won 4-3, he scored a goal and Genk became champions. That was a kind of satisfaction for him,” recalls his coach at the time, Kevin Van Dessel.

Then came the move to PSV Eindhoven in 2020 – initially to the U21 side. This time, luck was on his side: because the first-team squad was hit by several COVID cases, Saibari was called up to the pros and made his debut in the Eredivisie on 1 November 2020 at the age of 19, replacing a certain Mario Götze. He didn’t look back: KNVB Cup wins followed in 2022 and 2023 as well as three league titles in a row between 2024 and 2026. The attacker scored 42 goals in 142 appearances in all competitions for PSV. Away from the big noise and limelight, he refined his game and expanded his repertoire: a player who scores, initiates attacks, presses – and can change the rhythm of a match with his physical presence.

“Ismael was carefully developed in Eindhoven,” says Medhi Benatia, who wore the FC Bayern shirt from 2014 to 2016 and has been following Saibari’s progress for years. “I first noticed him in the Morocco U21 team. He immediately had this drive towards goal. And he had no problem being deployed in different positions – he could even change roles multiple times during a match, without his performance dropping. Looking back, Eindhoven was the right stepping stone to enable him to really get going. He mastered it brilliantly.” Issame Charai, his coach in the Morocco U23 side, is also full of praise: “His profile impressed me straight away. He was very mature for his age in his play, interested in tactics. He was and still is just obsessed with football.”

The shirt of his parents

The doors to the Moroccan national team were wide open to him – although Saibari could’ve chosen to pursue his international career in two other shirts: he was born in Spain and grew up in Belgium, and the Belgians actively courted him. However, the decision to represent Morocco was a matter of course for him: the country of his parents, his roots, a family history that’s never left him.

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So how to classify this player who’s now training at Säbener Straße? “His profile is difficult to describe: he’s not a winger who breaks through along the line, but he does take out opponents. A kind of ‘nine and a half’, who moves freely, makes deep runs and still helps out defensively,” says Van Dessel. Benatia adds: “He’s not the fastest – although he did hit a top speed of 33 kilometres per hour in the Champions League last season – but has extremely strong acceleration. And because he's both technically gifted and physically robust, he's very hard to stop.”

Saibari has signed a contract until 2031 at FC Bayern. Vincent Kompany was an important factor in his transfer to Munich, he explained at his unveiling. He shouldn’t find it hard to settle in: Saibari already speaks five languages, “and German will now be my sixth”, he said. For someone like him, whose path never ran in a straight line, learning a new language is probably the least of his challenges.

Article taken from the August edition of FC Bayern magazine ‘51’ – here in an abridged version.