Abdelkarim Merry Krimau (Maroc)

Collection title

Portraits of legendary footballers

ID

COP00029

Source

COPEAM (IT)

First broadcast date

2007

Production year

2007

Abstract

Abdelkarim Merry Krimau is considered one of the most talented players of his generation. Spotted by Bastia at a junior tournament, he spent six years with the club. He will perform his entire career in the Hexagon in many clubs. In 1978 he reaches the final of the UEFA Cup with the Club Bastia against PSV Eindhoven.

Type

audio

Production companies

SNRT - Coproduction
COPEAM - Coproduction

Primary theme

Sport and games

Credits / Cast

Haddouz Abdelhadi - Journalist
Regragui Driss - Journalist

Period of events

1978

Map locations

France - Corsica - Bastia

Original language

French

Media running time

8m8

Additional information

Context

Abdelkarim Merry Krimau

Stéphane Mourlane

      Abdelkarim Merry, nicknamed Krimau from an early age, is one of the players who contributed to Morocco’s reputation for football in the 1970’s and 80’s. Born on January 13^th 1955, when Morocco was on the road to independence, he grew up in Casablanca in the working class district of Burgundy near the city centre. He began as an apprentice player with L’Espérance Casablanca as centre forward, a position he kept for the rest of his career. His talent as a goal scorer put him in the national youth team.

       In 1974, during an international tournament at Bastia, he was spotted by the directors of the local club and offered a contract. Corsican clubs, long before they turned professional in the mid-1960s, used North Africa as a recruitment ground. The players came mainly from Algeria, like Rachid Mekhloufi, hero of Saint-Etienne and the FLN team, who joined Bastia in 1968.The presence of a strong Corsican colony in North Africa, particularly in Algeria, as well as what the island’s leaders claimed was a cultural closeness, encouraged this practice.

      In the early 1970s, the logic of professionalism was taking over and Corsican clubs felt obliged to strengthen their teams, offering better conditions: with Eastern Europe and Sub-Saharan Africa, North Africa offered a rich recruitment pool. The constraints imposed on Algerian players, who were banned from signing contracts abroad and forced to become naturalized, pushed the European clubs towards Morocco, which in 1970 was the first African country since Egypt in 1934 to qualify for a final phase of the World Cup. Krimau was recruited at the same time that waves of immigrants were arriving from Morocco to work in Corsica, making them the biggest North African community. In an insular society marked by a strong cultural identity, the footballer admitted he faced difficulties integrating, similar to those of the rest of his countrymen. His marriage to a Corsican girl and his talent on the field, however, boosted his assimilation.

      His participation in "the Bastia epic", which took the club to the final of the European Cup in 1978, anchored Krimau for ever in the island culture. Heroes of the quarter final against Turin (a 3-2 win in Turin), he was part of Corsica’s affirmation of identity in a team which wore the Moor's head on its jersey – despite their defeat in the final against Eindhoven. In addition, the Bastia team, half of whom, like Krimau, were not native to the island, seemed to represent a new Corsican community where differences are overcome and transcended by a common destiny. The issue of racism, however, had not been settled and football pitches rang with racist chants. The fact remains, however, that until the end of his career Krimau continued to affirm his love of Corsica, birth-place of his two children. The constraints of professionalism, though, forced him to move away, becoming a "nomadic striker" in the words of journalist Faouzi Mahjoub.

      Between 1980 and 1989, he played for eight clubs (Lille, Toulouse in the second division, Metz, Strasbourg, Tours, Le Havre, St Etienne and Matra Racing) mostly for only one season. Constantly moving, his performance on the field also became chaotic as he alternated good seasons with many goals, and more mediocre ones. However, he was an established player, especially after the 1986 World Cup when Morocco was the first African country to get through the first round, only just eliminated by West Germany in the quarter finals (0-1, the goal scored in the 89th minute). So he was one of a group of stars recruited at enormous cost by businessman Jean-Luc Lagardère to bring back fame and fortune to two old Parisian clubs he had merged: the Racing Club de France and the Paris Football Club, forming Matra Racing named after one of his companies. Despite the efforts of a renowned coach, the Portuguese Arthur Jorge, who had helped Porto win the European Cup, the results were not up to the clubs’ pre-war glory. In 1989, after two seasons, Krimau ended a career in which he had played 337 games in the French first division and scored 103 goals. He played 13 times for Morocco, where he now lives, having chaired Corbeil Club, near Paris.

Bibliography:

Sportifs marocains du monde. Histoires et enjeux actuels. Acte du colloque international conference de Casablanca, 24-25 juillet 2010, Paris-Casablanca, Seguier-La Croisée des chemins, 2011, 203 p.
Ghizlanzoni L., Les Lions de l’Atlas, Football au Maroc, Milan. Lak International Edition, 1994.
Rey Didier, "Les footballeurs originaires du Maghreb en Corse” Migrance, No. 29, 2008, p.98-109.

- silence

- Football legends, football legends.

- Morocco today, with Merry Krimau.

- His portrait by Abdelhadi Haddouz and Driss Regragui.

- For us, in Morocco, Merry Krimau belongs to the first waves of football players

- who got a professional contract, especially in France, in the early 70's.

- Merry Krimau, can you tell us about your debut?

- I started playing football at the age of 6 or 7 years old, in the ghettos,

- and I came back in Bougoun I was 8, that’s how we started,

- I wanted to become a football player at the time, it was on my mind,

- I was an 8 year-old child and I already used to go to the stadium.

- I wanted to become a professional and I did everything I could do.

- You were rather lucky, with a first tournament abroad,

- you scored the first goal, you were the best player.

- I was the best scorer, the best player,

- and we returned with the best goalkeeper, defenders and forwards.

- We returned to Khalfi with everything and Khalfi is the reason of my success.

- silence

- Tell us about that Bastia tournament and how you were recruited by the club.

- The tournament takes place in summer time and Morocco is a guest every year.

- It is invited by Bastia, all the clubs attend this tournament.

- I can remember that England and Scotland were there,

- and as a matter of fact, we won 3 to 1 versus Germany, I scored twice,

- we were having dinner and here come the managers, the president,

- who come and say Sir Khalfi, we want that player.

- That was incredible. A club comes and chooses you, and that’s how I left.

- Your career started in 1974 and in 75 you are already a champion in an amateur club.

- In 1975, I will always remember I was in the amateur France championship-winning team.

- I was not always a first-team player, I was a foreigner,

- I was young, I was only 18, 18 and a half,

- I was always with the first-team player team, the group of the 22.

- But it’s true that I worked hard with coach Cahuzac, he trusted me.

- It’s true that I also learnt, I studied in high school at the same time.

- In 1978, that’s the European Champions league, a great memory.

- That’s terrific! That’s the final of the European Champions league.

- In 1978, nobody knows Merry Krimau in Italy,

- in Torino people said “we don’t know him”,

- but then they met this Moroccan, it’s true that I scored twice.

- That’s how it all started, really, but we can say that I played before that.

- In May 1978, that’s the European career.

- After Saint Etienne came Bastia with Plantelic, Petrovic also in the goal,

- Johnny Rep, Brice Bergen, Lacuesta, Larios,

- myself, Félix, great football names were there, some Corsicans as well,

- Orlanducci, Francis Chetti, Claude Papi who was finished.

- Corsica turned European for a year.

- Corsica turned white and blue-colored for a year, really.

- You could find white and blue colors in every single shop, office, everywhere.

- People travelled with us,

- some even contracted loans to come with us, for fun.

- When we won against Turin we were 10, 000 Corsican people.

- We went and picked them up the day after, that was worth seeing,

- ships back from Italy, but I never forget that, really,

- because a final of the European Champions league, even if we lost,

- that’s a finale anyway, and it leaves its mark on you.

- silence

- How were you welcomed and integrated in Bastia?

- That was easy for me

- but that’s true to say that at the time some Moroccans came from the Riff

- and it’s true that it was difficult, they are islands.

- But people like football and to say the truth, I was accepted by the Corsican people

- because at the time to come and marry a Corsican woman was a difficult issue for me,

- and that’s true that it took me time to be accepted.

- People accepted me. They know the history between Corsica and Morocco.

- Mohammed V went into exile in Corsica all the same,

- and the Moroccan people have always come to Corsica to work.

- So after 6 years in Bastia, you got around a lot in about 10 French clubs.

- Of course, after I moved to a new club every year, I was in 10 clubs,

- and I stopped in Paris where I played 2 years with Artur Jorge.

- I was in Le Havre where I scored 17 goals, in Metz I scored 23 goals.

- Everybody asked me why I would leave but I felt like it.

- I wanted to and at the same time, I had children and they were young.

- I couldn’t have moved if they had been 15 or 16 years old.

- We moved to 10 clubs but I don’t regret it because I gained experience.

- If I hadn’t done that, Faria or El Ammari wouldn’t have taken me in the national team.

- You certainly have many anecdotes to tell,

- such as the one about you playing as a centre-back for Artur Jorge.

- The Artur Jorge anecdote happened when we played Montpellier,

- before the match, it was at 8:30 pm and I get into the office

- because every player was to have an interview for the position,

- Artur Jorge told me : “I have faith in you, no problem”.

- But it’s true that it was something, we even badly lost,

- but he wasn’t even angry at me as you are a senior player, really,

- you play in every place and it’s true that with Artur Jorge, I played as a libero,

- as a midfielder, as a defender and he was a great coach,

- as I played 2 years with him, and that’s when I played the French Cup with Haaziz.

- silence

- So you started with the national team in 1978, in Tunisia?

- I started with the national team, we lost against Tunisia

- during the penalty-shoot out for the World Cup, in Argentina 1978.

- Besides, that’s where I met Faras, Assilah, I met Seiz,

- they made an impression on me even if I was a professional,

- but still they are very famous players in Morocco.

- And then comes the unforgettable memory of the 1986 World Cup?

- I think that a centre forward who attends a World Cup

- dreams of scoring a goal, whatever the opponent but,

- it was against Portugal but that wasn’t an accident, we were the leading team.

- We played incredible matches

- and we could talk with Portugal, fix a match just like that, but we didn't talk.

- But I think the World Cup went very well,

- we represented a country that had no embassy in Mexico,

- people didn’t know about Morocco, politically speaking.

- They used to tell me, “Monaco?”. I said, “No, Morocco, Africa !”

- You kept quiet far away from football, for your reconversion?

- Not really. Ma career had come to an end

- and of course, in France, I learnt, I graduated.

- I was also in Saudi Arabia with Abdellah Blinda,

- and I’ve just come back three years ago.

- I was in Paris because I managed a large football player association

- along with Hamlila, with Hassan Hanini, we did a lot of community work

- so if you commit yourself it is difficult, you can then commit yourself

- and not to know if you’ll be there on the next day.

- silence

- Just a few words for Corsica, of course,

- because that’s about my family, besides I have my children there,

- I say hi to my two daughters, Kisfia and Nadia, who are with the grand-children I have,

- and to say hi to Corsican people, I hope Bastia will soon be back in the Premier League.

- That’s what I hope for them and I can add “Baci et salute”.

- silence

- Football legends,

- a co production launched by the permanent Conference of Mediterranean audiovisual.

- Technical production by Simon Guerini in the France Bleu Frequenza Mora studios,

- coordination by Pierre Marie.