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From her appearance with him after the 2025 Champions League

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Dembélé: A 'Son-in-Law' Who Spared No Mercy on Morocco's Goal in the World Cup

Al Arabiya.net

Published: July 10, 2026: 03:23 AM GST Last updated: July 11, 2026: 03:37 AM GST

Ousmane Dembélé will experience a night similar to what he experienced in December 2022 when he contributed to his national team's victory over Morocco, the country of his wife Rima Edbouch, in a World Cup knockout match. Back then, France reached the final with the same result that took them to the semi-finals of the 2026 World Cup.

Dembélé scored France's second goal in the 2026 World Cup quarter-final match against Morocco, confirming the roosters' arrival in the semi-finals for the third consecutive edition.

Dembélé's career has seen many ups and downs, dips in form, and frequent injuries, and he was known for his indifference and staying up late to play PlayStation.

Despite a fluctuating career since his professional debut in 2014 and his arrival at Barcelona in 2017, where he often showed a downward trajectory, his marriage to Rima was one of the reasons that brought him back on track, culminating in his Ballon d'Or win in 2025.

The 29-year-old striker, born to a Malian father and a Senegalese mother, became a different person after leading Paris Saint-Germain to their first Champions League title last year, followed by a second, and winning the Ballon d'Or as the sixth French player after Raymond Kopa in 1958, Michel Platini in 1983, 1984, and 1985, Jean-Pierre Papin in 1991, Zinedine Zidane in 1998, and Karim Benzema in 2022.

According to his injury page on Transfermarkt, Dembélé missed 31 matches in 2017-2018, 18 the following season, 39 the season after that, and 27 matches in the middle of the 2020-2021 season, the year he married Moroccan Rima Edbouch, after which his career saw noticeably fewer injuries. The number of matches missed due to injury from 2021-2022 until the past season was 59 matches in 5 seasons, compared to 115 matches in 4 seasons.

According to a source close to the star who revealed to the English Daily Mail: "When things started getting difficult at Barcelona, and he realized he wasn't living like a professional player, he decided to get married in 2021, and became a father, which made him more responsible. He began to see that discipline off the pitch was important for his success."

Dembélé married Rima, of Moroccan descent and also holding French and Italian citizenship, in December 2021 in a traditional ceremony in the Moroccan city of Tangier.

Rima is famous on TikTok and known for not showing her face; she is always present at her husband's crucial moments, whether attending his World Cup matches or his individual awards and titles. They are parents to a daughter born in September 2022, whose name has not yet been disclosed.

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