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There are dreams that even the reddest cards can’t stop. Since childhood, Bouchra Karboubi wanted to be a soccer referee; and Bouchra Karboubi became a soccer referee. But not just any old woman: on May 14, on the ground of the Agadir stadium, she was, on the eve of her 35th birthday, the first woman from Morocco – and the first from the Arab world – to referee a final of men’s professional competition, that of the Throne Cup, which opposed the Sports Association of the Royal Armed Forces (AS FAR) to Moghreb Atlético Tetouan (3-0).
At the end of the afternoon, the city of Meknes is suffocating under more than 40°C but Bouchra Karboubi is breathing. Five days after this historic meeting, she seems relieved. “ We had to show that I could succeed as a referee and as a woman.”, she explains. Arriving at Taeris Coffee, some recognize his immense silhouette and ask him the same question for the umpteenth time related to the final: “The red card, was it necessary? » Indeed, after the third minute – and after being called by the VAR (video assistance) – Bouchra Karboubi did not hesitate to send off an attacker for a violent game. “Having the courage to show a red card at the start of the match is not given to everyone.she says. But we have to protect the players. »
Frank, joking, smiling and without pretense, Bouchra Karboubi recounts her journey with overflowing joy. Football ? It’s a meeting. She is 11 years old and a friend offers her to come and play a match. She is not attracted to this sport, but when she enters the field, it is love at first sight. “Football took me that dayshe recalls. The atmosphere, the team spirit, I liked everything. I even forgot my worries. » Worries at 11? ” My brothers [elle en a trois et une sœur] were very hard on me. » They wanted, she explains, to play the role of the father, who was then working in France as a worker and only returned home once or twice a year.
“I was hiding to play”
Bouchra Karboubi was born in Taza (north-east), not far from the Rif mountains. “There, mentalities are complicated. In my time, girls weren’t supposed to go out: it was school and home. » The start of “unfairness”, as she says. She does karate, but her brothers ask her to practice a discipline for girls. “I went to the most masculine sport: football, and attacking moreover! », she laughs. Her choice is not without reprisals: one of her brothers hits her every time he learns that she continues to kick a ball. ” I suffered. So I hid to play. It was my mother who covered for me. At each match, at each training, she came with me on the pretext of an outing. Football is a rebellion. »
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