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| Full name | Raja Club Athletic نادي الرجاء الرياضي | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | النسور الخضر (Green Eagles) نادي الشعب (The People's Club) "الرجاء العالمي" | |||
| Short name | RCA | |||
| Founded | 20 March 1949 | |||
| Ground | Stade Mohammed V | |||
| Capacity | 45,891 | |||
| President | Adil Hala | |||
| Head coach | Ricardo Sá Pinto | |||
| League | Botola | |||
| 2023–24 | 1st of 16 (champions) | |||
| Website | rajacasablanca | |||
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Raja Club Athletic, widely known as Raja Casablanca or simply Raja, is a football club based in Casablanca, Morocco, that competes in Botola, the top flight of Moroccan football.
Founded on 20 March 2024 in the district of Derb Sultan,[1][2] the club has traditionally worn a green home kit since inception. Raja is a well known club for the success of its football section, very popular in and outside the country. The club sits at the Raja CA Academy for training and plays home games in the Stade Mohammed V since 1955.[3] Unlike most African sporting entities, Raja's members have owned and operated the club throughout its history.
The club is one of the most widely supported teams in Africa. Raja is one of two founding members of Botola that have never been relegated from the top division with Wydad AC and AS FAR.[4][5] The club holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably in the Casablanca Derby with Wydad AC[6] and the Classico with the capital side AS FAR.
Raja established itself as a major force in both Moroccan and African football in the late 1980s winning three CAF Champions League.[7] This success was replicated in the league, which the club won seven times in ten years, including six in a row between 1995 and 2001. This team, which included some club icons such as Mustapha Moustawdaa, Mustapha Chadili, Salaheddine Bassir and Abdellatif Jrindou, is considered by some in the sport to be the greatest African team in the 1990s. Club and Moroccan national team legend, Abdelmajid Dolmy holds the record for most appearances for the club.
In 2000, Raja was ranked by CAF in the 3rd place of the best African clubs of the 20th century, after Al Ahly and Zamalek.
In domestic football, the club has won 22 trophies; 13 Botola titles, 9 Moroccan Throne Cup. In international competitions, Raja have won 9 trophies; 3 CAF Champions League titles, two CAF Confederation Cup, two CAF Super Cup and 1 CAF Cup. It is the only African team,[8] with TP Mazembe, to reach the final of the FIFA Club World Cup in 2013 when they faced Bayern Munich.[9]
- ^ "Bienvenue dans l'Actu de FIFA.com - le Raja parmi les plus grands". fr.fifa.com. Archived from the original on 3 October 2020. Retrieved 15 January 2022.
- ^ "Casablanca: liesse à Derb Sultan après le sacre du Raja (VIDEO)". 12 October 2020. Archived from the original on 1 April 2023. Retrieved 21 October 2020.
- ^ "Africa's greatest club sides of all-time: Raja Casablanca 1997-2004 | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.
- ^ "ثلاثة أندية مغربية فقط لم تذق طعم الهبوط للقسم الثاني". medi1news. 7 August 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ^ "3 أندية مغربية فقط لم تهبط للقسم الثاني .. هل تعرفها ؟". al3omk.com (in Arabic). 8 August 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ^ "Raja Casablanca vs Wydad Casablanca: I Think This Is the Beginning of a Beautiful Rivalry..." 90min.com. 2 April 2020. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ^ "Revealed: Caf clubs five-year ranking – Is this the African Super League? | Goal.com". www.goal.com. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ^ "Africa at the FIFA Club World Cup in numbers". ESPN.com. 8 December 2017. Archived from the original on 9 January 2022. Retrieved 9 January 2022.
- ^ Cummings, Michael. "Raja Casablanca vs. Bayern Munich: Club World Cup Final Score, Grades, Reaction". Bleacher Report. Archived from the original on 8 January 2022. Retrieved 8 January 2022.