A 25-year-old midfielder from PSV Eindhoven just did something no Moroccan player has ever done at a World Cup. Ismael Saibari scored in all three of Morocco’s group-stage matches at the 2026 FIFA World Cup, turning himself into one of the tournament’s most talked-about players and, somewhat unexpectedly, moving the needle on soccer fan token trading volumes.
The crypto angle here is the Chiliz blockchain ecosystem, where fan tokens tied to soccer clubs and national teams have seen a surge in trading activity that lines up neatly with Saibari’s back-to-back Man of the Match performances.
Three games, three goals, one record
His goal against Brazil came in a 1-1 draw. His strike against Scotland arrived just 71 seconds into the match, making it the fastest goal ever scored by a Moroccan player at a World Cup. Morocco won that one 1-0. Then came Haiti, where Saibari found the net again as Morocco cruised to a 4-2 victory. Three matches, three goals, and a team comfortably through to the knockout stages.
No Moroccan player had previously scored in every group-stage match at a World Cup. The PSV Eindhoven man was already recognized as the Eredivisie Player of the Season before the tournament started. Reports link him with a potential move to Bayern Munich following his World Cup performances.
