Promising Moroccan football star among 88 dead in Ceuta migrant tragedy

Faten BenOmar el Azizi, a promising 20-year-old Moroccan football player, was among the at least 88 confirmed victims who died trying to reach the Spanish city of Ceuta from Morocco. The massive migration influx has raised concerns.

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She was not seeking fame or adventure, but a better life and a future that she believed awaited her on the other side of the border.

Spanish media reported that Faten drowned while swimming from Fnideq to the Spanish enclave. Her body was identified among others found on the Moroccan side. Her club, Moghreb Atlético de Tetuán, a historic team, expressed condolences, stating she sought "a better life and a future that she believed awaited her on the other side of the border."

The Moroccan Professional Footballers Union also offered sincere condolences to her family, teammates, and the wider Moroccan football community. The incident highlights the perilous journey many migrants undertake.

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In these moments of pain, the Moroccan Union of Professional Footballers (UMFP) expresses its sincerest condolences to her family, her loved ones, her teammates, to Maghreb de Tánger and to the entire Moroccan football family.

Meanwhile, Spain has defended its sovereignty over Ceuta, which Morocco claims along with Melilla since its independence in 1956. Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares stated that the cities' status as part of Spain's territorial integrity is "unquestionable." Most of the nearly 60,000 migrants who arrived in Ceuta have returned to Morocco, though around 250 were still in the enclave as of Monday.

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That [those cities] are part of the territorial integrity of Spain is unquestionable.