Here's my United Maghrebi Emirates. It started basically with a Marinid-Nasrid Union which succeded in stopping the Reconquista.
Country Name: United Maghribi Emirates
Capital: Fez
Government: Federal Republic
Official Languages: Maghribi, Arabic, Amazigh
Recognized Minority Languages: Hebrew, Mozarab
Major Cities: Fez, Marrakesh, Tangier, Granada, Algiers, Sale, Tlemcen, Sevilla, Laayoun
Population: 67 million
Demographic: 50% Amazigh,
32% Arab,
10% Latin
4% Hebrew
4% Subsaharan
Religions: 88% Muslim
7% Jewish
4% Christian
1% Other
History
The United Maghribi Emirates is a federal rebublic situated in northwestern Africa and southern Iberia. The UME is the successor state of the Marinid Sultanate of the Maghrib and Granada. It was established when the last and childless Marinid Sultan Hassan X., abdicated in 1860. Fearing for the survival of the state after his death, the Sultan and the various Emirs agreed to turn the Sultanate from a heredetery monarchy to a electoral one. Every six years one of the Emirs would be elected to the position of Sultan. After the Great War*, in which the UME was on the victourious side, and the economic crisis the population demanded more rights and representation. The Emir families were forced to abdicate and elections in the emirates where held.
Today the UME consists of six emirates: Emirate of Fez, Emirate of Alandalus, Emirate of Marrakech, Emirate of Laayoun, Emirate of Tafilalt-Tindouf and the Emirate of Tlemcen.
*: Sevilla was reconquered, "Königsberg style"
Football in the UME
Football is the number one sport in the UME. Tangiers as the gateway to mediteranean and a melting pot of ideas and cultures was the ideal place for the creation of the first maghrbi football club and first local league. Ittihad Albahara Almaghariba (United Maghribi Sailors) was the first club established by sailors in Tangiers in 1898. Rivalries with foreign sailors were then decided on the pitch. Today the club is called Ittihad Tanger and is one of the top teams in the Maghribi Premier League (MPL). Other top teams are Mouloudia Oujda, Marinids Fez, Maccabi Ronda, FC Sevilla, Nasr Gharnata, Raja Anfa and Shabab Oran. The second division is the Maghribi Championship. The Regional League is the third division, which consists of the six local leagues of the six emirates.
The United Maghrebi Football Federation, or Maghrebi FA, was established in 1910. When the European Football Federation was created in the 1930s the maghrebis tried to join it, but were vetoed by the their iberian neighbors. In 1935 the UME and ten other african nations established the African Football Union. In 1940 the first edition of the African Nations Cup was played in Fez and Tangiers and was won by the UME. Since then the UME won it five times. The UME made it eight times to the World Cup and reaching three times the quarter finals.
Best players in History:
Hadji, Bassir, Timoumi, Naybet, Benayoun, Mahrez, Madjer, Zaki, Herro, Belloumi, Gharsiya, Isa Nawaz, Ben Mbark
Current Squad:
GK: Rico, Bounou, Mbolhi
DEF: Ramos, Benatia, Mandi, Bensabaini, Da Costa, Mazraoui, Hakimi, Feddal, Saiss
MF: Ziyech, Bennacer, Isco, Ben-Qasi, S. Amrabat, Mahrez, Rayes, Taarabt, Dayan
FW: Armabat, Boufal, Nesyri, Diaz, Diouf
Major Stadiums and their capacity:
1. Marinid Arena, Fez - 90000
2. Al-Andalus Stadium, Gharnata - 80000
3. Assafina Arena, Tangiers - 65000
4. MaghribGaz Arena, Oran - 50000