Casablanca – Kays El Mouttaqui, the son of former Morocco captain Mehdi Benatia, has earned a call-up to France’s U15 team ahead of the inaugural FIFA U15 World Cup and Festival in Azerbaijan.
According to L’Équipe, the French Football Federation included the Olympique de Marseille forward among 18 players born in 2012 selected by coach Pierre-Emmanuel Bourdeau.
El Mouttaqui and the rest of the group will first gather at France’s national training center in Clairefontaine from October 18 to 22. The coaching staff will then reduce the squad to 14 players for the trip to Baku, meaning his place at the tournament itself is not yet guaranteed.
The 14-year-old currently plays in Marseille’s academy and appears on the club’s U17 roster for the 2026/27 season.
France will compete in a group featuring Anguilla, the Maldives, Estonia, Kosovo and South Africa, with five short-format matches scheduled over the opening stage.
FIFA introduced the U15 World Cup and Festival as a new global youth competition focused heavily on player development.
The inaugural boys’ edition will take place in Baku, with matches played eight-a-side over two 20-minute halves. FIFA says around 190 member associations and roughly 3,000 participants will take part across approximately 950 matches.
Most matches will take place at the Hovsan Competition Complex, while Baku’s Crystal Hall will stage the opening fixture and the tournament’s tier finals.
El Mouttaqui’s inclusion naturally carries additional interest in Morocco because of his father’s international career. Benatia represented the Atlas Lions for more than a decade and captained Morocco at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
The France U15 call-up represents a step in the younger El Mouttaqui’s development rather than a definitive decision over his long-term senior international future.
