| Full name | Raja Club Athletic of Casablanca | |||
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| Nickname(s) | Vox Populi, Green Eagles, Green Devils, Raja Mondial, Green Boys | |||
| Founded | 28 March 1949 | |||
| Ground | Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca (Capacity: 70,000) |
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| Chairman | Abdeslam Hanat | |||
| Manager | Bertrand Marchand | |||
| League | Botola | |||
| 2010–11 | Champion | |||
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| Current season | ||||
Raja Club Athletic or Raja (Arabic: نادي الرجاء الرياضي; transliterated: Nadi ar-Raja' ar-Riyady ) (Raja meaning 'hope' in Arabic) is a sports club with sections in many different disciplines in Casablanca, Morocco. Raja was founded on March, 28th 1949 as part of the political struggle against French rule by nationalists who aimed to create a focus for working-class young Moroccans. The club is most well known outside Morocco for its football team.
In Morocco, Raja Casablanca is still regarded as the club of the people. For many years it had a reputation of playing entertaining football without winning many trophies. However Raja has evolved recently into a more professional outfit capable of winning trophies at home and abroad. It has become the most powerful club in Morocco.
Raja Casablanca, who has been crowned domestic champions on ten occasions, was placed in 2000 third in CAF's ranking of African clubs of the last century, finishing behind the Egyptian teams Al Ahly and Zamalek SC.[1][2]
Raja Casablanca is the only Moroccoan club, and the first African and Arabic team to participate in the World Club Cup. They competed in the first edition that took place in 2000 in Brazil.
Raja has the largest number of supporters in Morocco. During the 2008–2009 season, the ultras of the club wrote, in capital letters, the tifo "VOX POPULI" (meaning 'voice of the people' in Latin).
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After several attempts to find a name worthy of a team that will represent the Moroccan people, officials were left with two fitting names left on the table, Raja and Fath. Raja was chosen after winning three successive votes.
The club joined the Moroccan league from the foundation of it by the Royal Moroccan Football Federation in 1956. The prohibition of entrusting the presidency to a Moroccan will quickly be circumvented by leaving this chair for six months, Ben Abadja Hejja, a Muslim of Algerian descent and who benefited from this fact of French nationality. The French authorities taken aback by this scheme were forced to accept the accomplished fact.
So in 1949 Raja, composed exclusively of Moroccan players, started its first year in the Division of Honor. It moved to the second division in its first season and reached the first division in 1951 and was therefore the first team to integrate the Moroccan first division after matches dams. Since then, the club has been considered an elite Moroccan football team.
The first coach of the club was Kassimi Kacem and Raja was known to be very successful under his leadership. Along with Boujemaa Kadri, a peerless leader, the two would distinguish themselves by working methodically and colossal administratively and organizationally. This duo would survive all the ups and downs of the club's history and establish the reputation of Raja in many areas.
Since its inception, Raja has always had a reputation of being a team of artists playing enjoyably and having fun. Pere Jego has instilled a collective game, specific, based on short passes, the one-two, the offensive and individual achievement, hence the label Raja lfraja "(Raja of the show). With this system, Raja frightened their opponents and they were able to humiliate the biggest clubs with a spectacular game marked by small bridges as well as combinations of high level without worrying about the score. The team did not win a national title until 1974 with its first cut of the throne and in 1988 with its first victory in the championship followed by a Champions League in 1989, without counting the championship title refused to Raja in the 1959–1960 season.[3]
Their style of play led to Raja gaining the support and encouragement of 40,000 Brazilians at the Murumbi stadium in São Paulo, during its historic performance in the Club World Cup in 2000 in its game against Real Madrid of Vicente Del Bosque.[4] This appearance on the world circuit had attracted the attention of many football experts. Just after the competition, the team received an invitation from the Juventus FC in Marcelo Lippi to play a preparation match at Palermo.
The color green was chosen by the founders of the club because it symbolizes hope and growth. Green is also considered the traditional color of Islam. On top of that, green is one of the colors on the Moroccan flag.
The eagle, meanwhile, in a period marked by the colonization of the country and the resistance, accounted for founding the strong raptor, prestigious and combative.
During this period, the greens won a great amount of national and continental titles. The team won the championship six times in 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 and 2001, which remains an unbeatable record. Plus, they won a moroccan cup in 1996, and four continental titles (2 CAF Champions League in 1997 and 1999, Afro-Asian Cup in 1998, and CAF Super Cup in 2000).
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the kit of the club in the 1990s. It is the most famous in the history of the team.
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Raja Casablanca is the only Moroccoan club, and the first African and Arabic team to participate in the World Club Cup. They competed in the first edition that took place in 2000 in Brazil. A competition that allowed them to confront some of the great football teams from around the world, such as Real Madrid CF from Spain and SC Corinthians from Brazil.
The final standings of the 1959–1960 season showed that 3 teams were tied for first in terms of total points: Raja Casablanca, FAR Rabat and KAC Kenitra. Undoubtedly, the best goal difference was that of Raja Casablanca, which should have granted them the win, as per the FIFA official rules and regulations. However, a triangular tournament was imposed and Raja refused to take part in protest against the fact that they did in fact have the better goal difference, and therefore, logically and legally, the title should be awarded to them. Due to their protest, KAC Kenitra was pronounced the winner after their match against FAR Rabat ended with a 1–0 win. Despite the people's opinion that the title should have been awarded to Raja Casablanca, the decision stood and Raja remained without the title until their win in 1974.
Many believe that the call for a triangular tournament was politically motivated. After only three years of independence, there was political instability in the country. The Army team of Morocco, the FAR Rabat (Royal Armed Forces), had been founded in 1958 and some politicians wanted them to win their first title that year. However, they lost the tournament and the title was awarded to KAC Kenitra.
The Mohamed V Stadium is part of a large sports complex in the heart of the city of Casablanca, specifically in upscale neighborhood of Maarif. It was inaugurated on 6, and today has a capacity of 67,000 spectators, not counting the North and South turns that have no seats, but where environments are warmer. The south turn or "Magana" (the clock in Moroccan dialect) ended up moving the main groups Raja Casablanca fans. In 2007, the stadium was equipped with a semi-artificial turf which is acceptable under international standards. As well, the seats in the stands, the sanitary facilities and athletics track were all replaced.
The school of Raja is among the best schools in Africa, and has always produced great players who have played for Raja as well as the Moroccan national team. Some notable players include Abdelmajid Dolmy, El Mustapha Haddaoui, Abdellatif Beggar, Houmane Jarir, Petchou, Mustapha Moustawdaa, Salaheddine Bassir, Mustapha Chadili, Jamal Sellami, Hicham Aboucherouane, Soufiane Alloudi, Merouane Zemmama, Talal El Karkouri, and Youssef Safri.
Sports facilities available to Raja Casablanca:
| No. | Name | Nationality | Position | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Goalkeepers | ||||||||||
| 1 | Yassine El Had | GK | ||||||||
| 12 | Younes Ataba | GK | ||||||||
| 19 | Tarik El Jarmouni | GK | ||||||||
| Defenders | ||||||||||
| 81 | Amin Erbati (captain) | CB | ||||||||
| 2 | Mohamed Chibi | RB | ||||||||
| 3 | Hicham Mahdoufi | LB | ||||||||
| 4 | Omar Diop | RB | ||||||||
| 14 | Rabii Houbry | CB | ||||||||
| 16 | Mohamed Oulhaj | CB | ||||||||
| 17 | Rachid Soulaimani | RB/LB | ||||||||
| 27 | Ismail Belmaalem | CB | ||||||||
| Midfielders | ||||||||||
| 8 | Abdelhak Talhaoui | CM | ||||||||
| 10 | Abdessamad Ouhakki | CM | ||||||||
| 15 | Zakaria Chaabani | CM | ||||||||
| 21 | Bouchaib El Moubarki | RW | ||||||||
| 28 | Kouko Guehi | CM | ||||||||
| 29 | Soufiane Talal | RW | ||||||||
| 30 | Mamadou Baila Traoré | CM | ||||||||
| 83 | Hicham Ait Laarif | CM | ||||||||
| 85 | Hossamdine Senhaji | LW | ||||||||
| Forwards | ||||||||||
| 9 | Hassan Souari | ST | ||||||||
| 25 | Yassine Salhi | ST | ||||||||
| 40 | Soufiane Alloudi | FW | ||||||||
| 55 | Hassan Tir | FW | ||||||||
| 77 | Idris Belaamri | FW | ||||||||
| 88 | Zakaria Jaouhari | FW | ||||||||
| Alhassane Issoufou | FW | |||||||||
| Alassane Diallo | FW | |||||||||
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The southern part of Complexe Mohamed V is fully occupied by supporters of the club it is the famous area called LMAGANA. It distinguishes four sectors of this area of the stadium.
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