Moroccan football has lost one of its history-makers. Former international referee Jilali Gharib has died after a battle with illness, leaving behind a refereeing legacy that will never fade from the memory of the national game.
Gharib was no ordinary referee. He was the first to break the barrier. In the summer of 1994, as the world turned its eyes towards the United States, Morocco wrote its name into the World Cup record books through a different door: the door of the whistle.
He became the first Moroccan to set foot on World Cup grass as an assistant referee, paving the way for generations of Moroccan officials who followed him to the biggest gathering in the sport.
His defining World Cup moment arrived on 16 July 1994. He stood on the touchline for the third-place play-off between Sweden and Bulgaria, watching a sweeping 4-0 Swedish victory and playing his part in a chapter of history.
The legacy stretched well beyond the World Cup. He carried the Moroccan whistle to other continents, becoming the first referee from the Kingdom to feature at the Asian Cup finals and the first to represent national refereeing at the Olympic Games. He founded a school of the "ambassador with the whistle" that put Morocco's name on the biggest stages, even before its players shone on the pitch.
With Gharib's passing, Moroccan football loses one of its pioneering symbols. Here was a referee who did not simply manage matches. He managed history itself, steering it to write his country's name in letters of gold.