November 11, 2026
The Libyan Football Association’s move to naturalize the Malian striker for Al-Suwaihli Club, Felie Traoré, in preparation for his joining the first team, has sparked a new wave of controversy over the phenomenon of naturalizing foreign players active in the Premier League to strengthen the ranks of the “Knights of the Mediterranean.”
In the same context, news reports close to the Libyan Al-Ittihad club revealed that there are intense movements to put forward the name of the Moroccan striker and star of Al-Ittihad Tripoli club, Nofal Al-Zarhouni (31 years old), behind the scenes of the national team, in preparation for the start of the procedures for his naturalization and changing his sporting nationality.
The sources reported that Zarhouni, who has never represented the Moroccan national team, does not mind wearing the Libyan national team shirt after the long years he spent in the Libyan league stadiums, where he joined Ittihad Tripoli coming from Moroccan Raja Casablanca in 2024 (after a previous experience with FUS Rabat), to provide remarkable levels that made him one of his team’s most prominent players during the past two seasons.
These developments come in light of the Football Association’s efforts to include new elements capable of making a difference with the first team, in preparation for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers and the finals in the event of qualification, regardless of the fact that these players do not possess Libyan nationality at the present time.
