There’s a particular kind of courage it takes to leave everything you know at a young age and chase a dream on another continent. For Saad Faiz, that journey started on the streets and small pitches of Casablanca, Morocco, and has carried him through American college soccer as one of the trailblazers for young Moroccan athletes looking to make the same leap.
World Media Feed sat down with Saad Faiz to talk about where it all began, what keeps him going, and what he wants the next generation of Moroccan players to know.
Where It All Started
Faiz didn’t stumble into the game late. He was already on the ball at an age when most kids are just learning to walk in a straight line.
“I started at the age of 6,” Faiz says.
That early start would shape everything that followed — the technical foundation, the comfort on the ball, the instincts that Moroccan football is known for producing.
A Duty, Not Just an Opportunity
Ask Faiz what it would mean to represent Morocco on a bigger stage, and the answer isn’t rehearsed. It comes from somewhere deeper than ambition.
“It will be an honor to be called up and it’s a duty to go,” he says.
For Faiz, wearing the colors of his country isn’t a personal accolade to chase — it’s an obligation he’d carry proudly, the way generations of Moroccan players before him have.
The Advice He’d Give the Next Generation
Faiz has become something of a reference point for young Moroccan athletes eyeing the same path he took — Casablanca to American college soccer. When asked what he’d tell the next kid dreaming of doing what he did, his message was simple.
“Keep working hard, everything is closer than you think.”
It’s the kind of line that sounds like a cliché until you’ve lived it — until you’ve actually made the jump from a youth pitch in Casablanca to a Division I roster halfway across the world.
The Moroccan Standard
Faiz is quick to credit where his game comes from. Ask any player who came up through Moroccan football about the style, and you’ll hear the same thing: tight spaces, close control, comfort on the ball above everything else.
“Yes, definitely — back in Morocco we play a lot like small spaces and being good with the ball. It’s a standard that a whole country holds,” Faiz explains.
It’s not just his personal style. It’s a national identity built into the way the game is taught from the very first touch.
Gratitude for the Ones Watching
Faiz hasn’t lost sight of who’s been watching his path unfold — the people back home, the ones following a Moroccan kid making his way through American soccer step by step.
“Really appreciate and grateful for the people that have been following my path till today. Hope I can keep making you proud,” he says.
The Numbers Behind the Journey
2024
- Made one start
- Tallied three shots
- Logged 52 total minutes
2023
- Made 14 appearances and recorded one assist in 366 minutes
- Recorded one assist in his season debut at Boston University (8/24)
2022
- Appeared in all 20 games for UAlbany, making 11 starts, scoring three goals with one assist to lead the team with seven total points in 960 minutes
- Scored one goal against Bryant (10/1)
- Scored one goal with one assist at Rhode Island (9/20)
- Scored one goal at Rutgers (9/13)
- Made his first start of the season against Penn (9/9)
- Made his season debut against Boston University (8/25)
2021
- Made 17 appearances, including nine starts, scoring one goal with one assist in 874 minutes played
- Named to the America East All-Rookie Team
- Scored one goal vs. UMass Lowell (10/13)
- Recorded one assist in his first career start vs. Marist (9/7)
- Made his career debut vs. Fairfield (8/26)
Before UAlbany — Lycée Français International Louis Massignon
- Helped lead his team to a National Championship during his freshman and junior years
- Team placed second during his sophomore year
- Earned 2019 Team of the League honors
- Awarded Tournament MVP in 2018
- Awarded Player of the Month in the Major Leagues of Casablanca
- Participated in Interact, an association dedicated to helping the homeless
From Casablanca to Los Angeles
Long before any of this became a story other people could follow, Saad Faiz was one of the first young Moroccan student-athletes to take the U.S. route and document it publicly — showing the next wave of players back home that the path was real and that it could be walked.
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