Mario Ferri breaks football’s silence over Morocco’s dogs after visit to Marrakesh authority dog kill shelter
The Italian player and campaigner has become the first footballer to back the International Animal Welfare and Protection Coalition’s campaign for Morocco’s free roaming dogs.
Footballer Mario Ferri, known as “Il Falco” or “The Falcon”, has spoken out about the treatment of free roaming dogs in Morocco, giving animal welfare campaigners their first public supporter from within the game.
The Italian travelled to Morocco and tried to gain access to a municipal dog pound in Marrakesh. Campaigners fear that dogs rounded up from the streets are killed there. Ferri was unable to gain full access to the pound, but took to social media to condemn the dogs’ treatment. He also met and spoke with Moroccan people about the slaughter.
For the International Animal Welfare and Protection Coalition (IAWPC), his intervention is a major milestone after what it describes as a wall of silence from the footballing world ahead of the 2030 World Cup, which Morocco will co-host with Spain and Portugal.
Ferri has played football in several countries, but is perhaps best known for running onto the pitch during a match at the 2022 World Cup in Qatar carrying a rainbow flag and wearing a shirt bearing messages about Ukraine and women in Iran.
The IAWPC has repeatedly raised concerns about the fate of Morocco’s free roaming dogs as the country prepares for the tournament. It hopes Ferri’s decision to visit and speak out will encourage other dog-loving footballers to follow his lead.
Ferri’s intervention comes amid scrutiny over FIFA’s 2030 World Cup Bid Evaluation Report (BER). The report said Morocco had stated that “since August 2024 the culling of animals is prohibited in the country”. The IAWPC calls that claim a lie, pointing to footage and reports it says show dogs being shot, poisoned and captured in the lead-up to the report’s publication and continuing to the present day.
In a July 2026 letter to FIFA, the coalition of 83 charities, which includes the RSPCA, Peta and Dogs Trust, also highlighted a passage in the report stating that commitments made during the bidding process are legally binding on the football associations involved.
Campaigners say the killing and round-up of dogs intensifies ahead of major football events and visits. The IAWPC says footage filmed in Marrakesh in late March 2026, during preparations for a FIFA inspection visit, showed municipal workers pinning dogs down with clamp-like devices before dragging them into trucks. Reports of increased killings around host cities ahead of the Africa Cup of Nations in late 2025 and into early 2026 also appeared in The New York Times/The Athletic and Le Parisien.
Debbie Wilson, IAWPC vice president, said: “We are so grateful to Mario for going to Morocco, asking questions and speaking up for these dogs. Football has enormous power to draw attention to what is happening, yet we have struggled to get anyone in the game to address it publicly. Mario has shown that one person can break that silence. We hope other footballers who love dogs will now follow his lead and help us demand change. The dogs of Morocco need our collective help now.”
Write to FIFA: sgoffice@fifa.org
Write to the Moroccan government: mroudani@interieru.gov.ma
