Khaibib visits Morocco’s national team during Qatar World Cup

Bloody Elbow 2.0 | Anton Tabuena

Khabib Nurmagomedov was among the notable athletes to visit Qatar during the 2022 World Cup.

The former UFC lightweight champion paid a visit to Morocco’s national football team in Doha ahead of the team’s third-place game against Croatia.

Nurmagomedov posted a picture showing him standing alongside the entire Moroccan national team at their hotel Thursday. The caption read “Good luck tomorrow Morocco.”

Though the Atlas Lions ended their tournament with two consecutive losses, they still made history as the first African and Arab team to reach the semi-finals of a World Cup. The team defeated the likes of Belgium, Spain, and Portugal. during their remarkable journey this month.

Among the team’s stars was Achraf Hakimi, who also took to social media to share photos of his meeting with the former UFC champion.

Thanks for the support @TeamKhabib pic.twitter.com/n1iW6j0C0r

— Achraf Hakimi (@AchrafHakimi) December 16, 2022

Nurmagomedov also shared several pictures on Instagram of two buildings in Qatar with images of himself and his father projected onto them. The pictures were done in honor of Nurmagomedov being one of the most famous Muslim athletes in the world.

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About the author

Karim Zidan

Karim Zidan is a investigative reporter and feature writer focusing on the intersection of sports and politics. He has written for BloodyElbow since 2014 and has served as an associate editor since 2016. He also writes for The New York Times and The Guardian. Karim has been invited to speak about his work at numerous universities, including Princeton, and was a panelist at the South by Southwest (SXSW) film festival and the Oslo Freedom Forum. He also participated in the United Nations counter-terrorism conference in 2021. His reporting on Ramzan Kadyrov’s involvement in MMA, much of which was done for Bloody Elbow, has led to numerous award nominations, and was the basis of an award-winning HBO Real Sports documentary.