Larbi Benbarek, the 'Black Pearl' Pelé called the god of football

Pelé had warned him nonetheless: “If I am the king of football, then Larbi Ben Barek is its god.” Despite this testimony, the name Larbi Benbarek remains one of the most overlooked in the history of French football, yet he was its very first star, long before Raymond Kopa lifted the Ballon d’Or in 1958.

Born in Casablanca, in Morocco then under French protectorate, Benbarek was a carpenter at 14 before football changed the course of his life. Spotted during a friendly match between the Moroccan national team and France B, he joined Olympique de Marseille, where he quickly established himself as the attraction of the French championship. Called up to the national team, he notably distinguished himself during a trip to Naples, where the crowd booed the two Black players in the French team — a hostility that only amplified his aura. A poll organized by the newspaper L’Auto, ancestor of L’Équipe, earned him the nickname “Black Pearl”.

His career was twice broken in its stride. The Second World War forced him to return to Morocco, where he continued to play with US Marocaine. Upon his return to France, he passed through Stade français before flying to Atlético Madrid in 1948. Under the orders of Helenio Herrera — an Argentine-Franco-Moroccan coach who would later popularize catenaccio at Inter Milan — Benbarek won two Spanish championship titles with the Colchoneros and established himself as one of the continent’s best players.

Back at Marseille in 1953, welcomed as a hero, he answered the popular pressure and earned a final cap against West Germany at 37 years old. This last match gave him a record that still stands in the books: the longest French international longevity, at fifteen years and ten months. Just Fontaine, who played alongside him, summed up the paradox of his legend this way: “Pelé remains the greatest for me, but he was the first idol because television existed. That was not the case for Ben Barek, whose genius could therefore not be known, seen by all.”

Becoming a coach after his retirement, Benbarek managed the Lions of the Atlas twice before gradually disappearing from the radar. He died on September 16, 1992, in solitude and indifference, at the age of 78 — thirty-four years ago now.