Janis Benchauch

Yanis Benchaouch was the goalkeeper Morocco could not do without at the 2025 FIFA U-20 World Cup in Chile — until he was not. It was in the semi-final against France, on 15 October 2025, that the story turned: after 64 minutes he went down with a quadriceps injury and had to be stretchered off. He did not play again in Chile, and it was from the bench that he watched Morocco beat Argentina 2-0 in the final to win the country's first-ever U-20 World Cup title.

Benchaouch was born in Périgueux, France, and joined AS Monaco's academy in the summer of 2021, working his way up through the B team and the U19 and U21 sides before leaving the club in 2026. He has also earned a cap with Morocco's U-23 team.

His move to Red Star FC 93 brought him straight into the number one shirt and the starting goalkeeper's job. No club honours have followed him there yet, and for now his name is still tied above all to that Chilean autumn — to the saves that got Morocco to a semi-final, and to the injury that kept him out of the final his team went on to win.