Abdelmajid Dolmy

Abdelmajid Dolmy

Personal information
Full name	Abdelmajid Dolmy
Date of birth	(1953-08-20)20 August 1953
Place of birth	Casablanca, Morocco
Date of death	27 July 2017(2017-07-27) (aged 63)
Place of death	Casablanca, Morocco
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1969–1971	Raja CA
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1971–1987	Raja CA	670	(13)
1987–1990	CO Casablanca	72	(5)
1990–1991	Raja CA	18	(2)
Total		760	(20)
International career
1971–1973	Morocco U20
1973–1988	Morocco[1]	76	(5)
Medal record Representing  Morocco Africa Cup of Nations Winner 1976 Ethiopia 1980 Nigeria
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Abdelmajid Dolmy (Arabic: عبد المجيد الظلمي; 20 August 1953 – 27 July 2017) was a Moroccan professional footballer who played as a libero then as a central midfielder for Raja CA and the Moroccan national team. Nicknamed Maestro, he is widely considered one of the best players in the history of Moroccan and African football.^[2]

He started playing football in Derb sultan and joined the Raja-Oasis Complex in 1969 aged 16. Two years later, he joined the first team where he made a few appearances before establishing himself as a key player in 1973. He won the Throne Cup in 1974, 1977 and 1982, and came close to winning Botola many times. In 1987, Olympique de Casablanca signed him for a then Moroccan record transfer fee. In 1990, he returned to Raja and retired the next year at the age of 38.

With the Atlas Lions, he made his debut with the U20 national team in 1971. In 1973, he was called up to the senior team for a friendly match against Senegal, but did not play. On 23 February 1975, he made his debut under Gheorghe Mărdărescu against Libya in the qualifiers for the 1976 Summer Olympics. He played all games in the 1976 African Cup of Nations won by Morocco. He also won the gold medal at the 1983 Mediterranean Games. He played in three more AFCON and in the 1984 Summer Olympics. At the 1986 World Cup, he was a key player of the first African team to finish top of a World Cup group and the first African team to reach the knockout stages, before being eliminated by West Germany after a last-minute goal. He was one of the best Moroccan players of the tournament and was rated 9/10 by L'Équipe against England. He retired from international football after the 1988 AFCON.

In 1992, UNESCO awarded him the Fair play prize, to reward a “player whose exemplary morality and courtesy make him unanimously considered by his partners or adversaries as a football ambassador”. In 2006, Dolmy was selected by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) as one of the best 200 African football players of the last 50 years.^[3] In 2022, he's part of the IFFHS all-time Morocco Dream Team.^[4]