Munir Mohand Mohamedi, known simply as Munir, is a Moroccan professional footballer who replaced Yassine Bounou in the last minutes leading up to country’s game against Belgium in Sunday’s FIFA World Cup.

Morocco’s goalkeeper Bounou was substituted despite lining up for the national anthem. He walked out of the tunnel with his teammates and lined up for the national anthem. However, Munir was pictured in the official pre-match team photo.

The replacement was so sudden that even BBC commentators took 38 minutes to notice the change.

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Who is Munir Mohand Mohamedi?

Munir Mohand Mohamedi plays as a goalkeeper for Saudi Arabian club Al Wehda.

Born in Melilla, Munir made his debut as a senior with AD Ceuta’s reserves in 2008, in the regional leagues. The next year, he moved to another reserve team, UD Almería B from Tercera División. The 33-year-old joined UD Melilla in summer 2009. He was initially assigned to the reserves and later definitely promoted to the main squad in the Segunda División B the following year.

He acted mainly as a backup to Pedro Dorronsoro in his first two seasons at the club.

In 2014, Munir signed a two-year contract with Segunda División side CD Numancia.

The same year September, he made his professional debut. His debut in the second tier was on October 19, 2014, playing the full 90 minutes in a 2–0 loss at UD Las Palmas.

For the remaining campaign, he became the first choice overtaking Biel Ribas. Munir left the Soria team at the end of 2017–18, after losing his starting spot to Aitor Fernández.

In 2018, he joined Málaga CF also in the second division. From 2020 to 2022, Munir competed in the Turkish Süper Lig with Hatayspor. On 10 June 2022, he agreed to a two-year deal at Saudi Arabian club Al Wehda FC.

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In 2014, he switched his allegiance to its national team. On December 29, 2016, Munir was included in Hervé Renard’s 23-man squad for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, and started the whole tournament ahead of Yassine Bounou. He was also selected to the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia, making his first appearance in the competition on 15 June in the 1–0 group stage defeat to Iran.

Munir was also selected for the 2019 and 2021 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2022 World Cup.