2017–18 Botola

The 2017–18 Botola, also known as Botola Maroc Telecom for sponsorship reasons, is the 61st season of the Premier League and the 7th under its new format of Moroccan Pro League, the top Moroccan professional league for association football clubs, since its establishment in 1956. The season started on 8 September 2017 and ended on 21 May 2018.

Botola

Season	2017–18
Champions	Ittihad Tanger 1st title
Relegated	Racing AC CA Khénifra
Champions League	IR Tanger Wydad AC
Confederation Cup	HUS Agadir
Matches played	240
Goals scored	545 (2.27 per match)
Top goalscorer	Mouhssine Iajour (17 goals)
Biggest home win	OC Khouribga 5–0 Racing AC (13 May 2018)
Biggest away win	OC Khouribga 0–5 Wydad AC (28 November 2017)
Highest scoring	Raja CA 4–3 OC Khouribga (14 February 2018) MA Tétouan 4–3 CA Khénifra (18 February 2018) Wydad AC 5–2 OC Khouribga (8 April 2018) AS FAR 3–4 OC Safi (14 April 2018) KAC Marrakech 2–5 DH Jadidi (28 April 2018)
Longest winning run	8 matches IR Tanger
Longest unbeaten run	23 matches Wydad AC
Longest winless run	11 matches Racing AC
Longest losing run	6 matches MA Tétouan
← 2016–17 2018–19 →

Wydad Athletic Club came into the season as defending champions of the 2016–17 season. Rapide Oued Zem and Racing de Casablanca entered as the two promoted teams from the 2016–17 GNF 2.

On May 12th 2018, Ittihad Tanger won the Botola Pro after a 2-1 victory against Moghreb Tétouan. The IR Tanger club won the championship for the first time after being runner-up to the title in 1989-90 season.[1]

Teams

Stadium and locations Team Location Stadium Capacity Association sportive des FAR Rabat Stade Moulay Abdellah 52,000 Chabab Atlas Khénifra Khénifra Stade Municipal 5,000 Chabab Rif Al Hoceima Al Hoceima Stade Mimoun Al Arsi 12,000 Difaâ El Jadidi El Jadida Stade El Abdi 15,000 Fath Union Sport Rabat Stade de FUS 15,000 Hassania Agadir Agadir Stade Adrar 45,480 IR Tanger Tanger Grand Stade de Tanger 45,000 Kawkab Marrakech Marrakech Stade de Marrakech 45,240 Moghreb Tétouan Tétouan Saniat Rmel 15,000 Olympic Safi Safi Stade El Massira 10,000 Olympique Khouribga Khouribga Complexe OCP 10,000 Racing de Casablanca Casablanca Stade Père-Jégo 10,000 Raja Casablanca Casablanca Stade Mohamed V 67,000 Rapide Oued Zem Oued Zem Stade Municipal 3,000 RSB Berkane Berkane Stade Municipal 15,000 Wydad Casablanca Casablanca Stade Mohamed V 67,000

MAT RCA WAC RAC FUS FAR KACM DHJ HUSA RSB CRA OCS OCK CAK IRT RCOZ Locations of the 2017–18 Botola teams Regions of Morocco Number of teams Teams 1 Casablanca-Settat 4 DH El Jadidi, Racing AC, Raja CA and Wydad AC 2 Béni Mellal-Khénifra 3 CA Khénifra, OC Khouribga and RC Oued Zem Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima CR Al Hoceima, IR Tanger and MA Tétouan 4 Marrakech-Safi 2 KAC Marrakech and OC Safi Rabat-Salé-Kénitra AS FAR and Fath US 6 Oriental 1 RS Berkane Souss-Massa HUS Agadir

Personnel and kits

Teams	Managers	Kit manufacturer	Shirt sponsor
Association sportive des FAR	Abderrazak Khairi	Uhlsport
Chabab Atlas Khénifra	Kamal Zouaghi	Bang Sports
Chabab Rif Al Hoceima	Nacer Sandjak	Bang Sports	Al Omrane, CGI
Difaâ El Jadidi	Abderrahim Talib	Bang Sports	innjoo, Radio Mars, TGCC^1
FUS Rabat	Walid Regragui	Uhlsport	Emaar, Novec^1, LafargeHolcim^2^3
Hassania Agadir	Miguel Ángel Gamondi	Uhlsport	Afriquia, Skoda^1, Souss-Massa^2, Joly^3
IR Tanger	Driss El Mrabet	Bang Sports	Renault, APM Terminals, Tanger-Med^1, Moroccan Airports Authority^1, Valencia^1, RCI Finance Maroc^3
Kawkab Marrakesh	Faouzi Jamal	Puma	Poste Maroc, Sanad, CitySport, Menara Mall^1
Moghreb Tétouan	Abdelouahed Benhsain	King Sports Maroc	Halib Tetaouen, Radio Mars
OC Khouribga	Bernard Simondi	Bang Sports
Olympic Safi	Mohamed Amine Benhachem	Uhlsport	Fitco
Racing de Casablanca	Youssef Rossi
Raja Casablanca	Juan Carlos Garrido	Legea	Siera, Nor'Dar, Prodec, Infinix, Hyundai^1, Or Blanc^1, MarsaMaroc^2^3, Atlanta Assurances^2^3
Rapide Oued Zem	Tarek Mostafa	Bang Sports	Boudrika Holding
RSB Berkane	Mounir Jaouani	Bang Sports	Souiri, Afriquia^1
Wydad Casablanca	Faouzi Benzarti	Macron	Ingelec, Alitkane^2, Koutoubia^2

1. ^ On the back of shirt.

2. ^ On the sleeves.

3. ^ On the shorts.

• Maroc Telecom is a sponsor for all the league's teams.
• Additionally, referee kits are made by Adidas.

Managerial changes

Teams	Outgoing manager	Manner of departure	Date of vacancy	Incoming manager	Date of appointment
Racing de Casablanca	Abdelhak Rizkallah	Retired	20 May 2017	Youssef Rossi	14 Juin 2017
IR Tanger	Bachir Bouita	End of contract	25 May 2017	Ezzaki Badou	20 May 2017
Hassania Agadir	Francisco Javier Bernal	End of contract	26 May 2017	Miguel Ángel Gamondi	4 June 2017
Raja Casablanca	Mohamed Fakhir	Resigned	26 May 2017	Abdelhak Benchikha	7 June 2017
Chabab Rif Al Hoceima	Youssef Fertout	End of contract	26 May 2017	Juan Pedro Benali	11 July 2017
Moghreb Tétouan	Amin Erbati (interim)	End of tenure as caretaker	28 May 2017	Fouad Sahabi	3 June 2017
Raja Casablanca	Abdelhak Benchikha	Resigned	16 June 2017	Juan Carlos Garrido	20 June 2017
Moghreb Tétouan	Fouad Sahabi	Resigned	30 August 2017	Abdelhak Benchikha	5 September 2017
OC Khouribga	Azzedine Aït Djoudi	3 October 2017	Sacked	Bernard Simondi	14 October 2017
Moghreb Tétouan	Abdelhak Benchikha	Resigned	19 November 2017	Youssef Fertout	19 November 2017
IR Tanger	Ezzaki Badou	Sacked	21 November 2017	Driss El Mrabet	21 November 2017
RSB Berkane	Rachid Taoussi	Sacked	27 November 2017	Mounir Aljawani	27 November 2017
Chabab Atlas Khénifra	Samir Yaich	Contract termination	3 December 2017	Kamal Zouaghi	26 December 2017
AS FAR	Aziz El Amri	Sacked	11 December 2017	Abderrazak Khairi	13 December 2017
Wydad Casablanca	Hussein Amotta	Sacked	9 January 2018	Faouzi Benzarti	19 January 2018
Chabab Rif Al Hoceima	Juan Pedro Benali	Contract termination	31 January 2018	Nacer Sandjak	1 February 2018
Rapide Oued Zem	Mohamed Backary	Sacked	20 February 2018	Fouad Sahabi	21 February 2018
Moghreb Tétouan	Youssef Fertout	Sacked	27 February 2018	Abdelouahed Benhsain	21 February 2018
Rapide Oued Zem	Fouad Sahabi	Refused by the Federation	20 February 2018	Tarek Mostafa	20 March 2018
Kawkab Marrakesh	Youssef Meriana	Sacked	29 April 2018	Faouzi Jamal	29 April 2018

League table

Standings

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	IR Tanger (C, Q)	30	14	10	6	34	23	+11	52	Qualification for the CAF Champions League
2	Wydad Casablanca (Q)	30	14	9	7	44	26	+18	51[lower-alpha 1]
3	Hassania Agadir (Q)	30	13	12	5	40	22	+18	51[lower-alpha 1]	Qualification for the CAF Confederation Cup
4	FUS Rabat	30	13	10	7	34	26	+8	49	Qualification for the Arab Club Champions Cup[lower-alpha 2]
5	Difaâ El Jadidi	30	13	9	8	49	33	+16	48[lower-alpha 3]
6	Raja Casablanca	30	13	9	8	45	33	+12	48[lower-alpha 3]	Qualification for the CAF Confederation Cup[lower-alpha 4]
7	Olympic Safi	30	10	13	7	32	28	+4	43[lower-alpha 5]
8	AS FAR	30	11	10	9	35	34	+1	43[lower-alpha 5]
9	RSB Berkane	30	11	8	11	36	34	+2	41	Qualification for the CAF Confederation Cup[lower-alpha 6]
10	Rapide Oued Zem	30	10	7	13	27	31	−4	37
11	Moghreb Tétouan	30	10	6	14	24	35	−11	36
12	Olympique Khouribga	30	9	8	13	37	47	−10	35
13	Chabab Rif Al Hoceima	30	7	12	11	27	31	−4	33
14	Kawkab Marrakesh	30	8	8	14	29	47	−18	32
15	Chabab Atlas Khénifra (R)	30	6	11	13	30	41	−11	29	Relegation to the Botola 2
16	Racing de Casablanca (R)	30	3	8	19	22	54	−32	17

Source: frmf.ma
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head points; 3) Head-to-head goal difference; 4) Goal difference; 5) Goals scored; 6) Fair-play points; 7) Play-off.
(C) Champion; (Q) Qualified to the phase indicated; (R) Relegated.
Notes:

1. Wydad Casablanca finished ahead of Hassania Agadir on goals scored: Wydad Casablanca 44, hassania Agadir 40
2. Wydad Casablanca and Raja Casablanca are also qualified to the Arab Club Champions Cup.
3. Difaa Jadidi finished ahead of Raja Casablanca on head-to-head goal difference: Difaa Jadidi 2–1 Raja Casablanca, Raja Casablanca 3–2 Difaa Jadidi
4. Raja CA qualified for the Confederation Cup First round as the title holders, by winning the 2018 CAF Confederation Cup.
5. Olympic Safi finished ahead of AS FAR on head-to-head points: Olympic Safi 1–1 AS FAR, AS FAR 3–4 Olympic Safi
6. RS Berkane qualified for the Confederation Cup First round by winning the 2018 Moroccan Throne Cup.

Results

Home \ Away	IRT	WAC	HUSA	FUS	DHJ	RCA	OCS	FAR	RSB	RCOZ	MAT	OCK	CRA	KACM	CAK	RAC
IR Tanger	—	0–0	2–2	1–2	1–0	1–1	1–0	0–1	2–1	1–0	2–1	2–0	3–0	1–0	1–0	1–1
Wydad AC	0–1	—	1–0	1–3	2–1	1–2	0–1	3–1	2–1	3–1	0–0	5–2	1–0	4–1	3–1	0–0
HUS Agadir	1–1	1–0	—	2–1	3–1	1–0	1–0	2–2	3–0	1–0	2–1	3–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–1
Fath US	0–0	2–4	2–1	—	1–0	0–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	1–0	2–0	0–0	0–2	2–1	4–1	2–0
DH Jadidi	1–1	0–1	1–0	3–0	—	2–1	1–0	1–0	1–2	3–1	3–0	4–1	3–1	1–0	0–0	1–1
Raja CA	1–1	1–1	2–1	1–2	3–2	—	0–0	2–0	2–1	3–1	0–0	4–3	1–1	4–0	1–2	2–0
OC Safi	1–0	1–1	1–1	1–0	2–2	2–0	—	1–1	1–0	0–0	0–0	2–0	2–1	2–1	1–1	2–2
AS FAR	2–1	0–0	0–0	0–0	1–2	2–1	3–4	—	1–3	0–0	2–0	1–0	2–2	2–3	1–2	2–0
RS Berkane	0–3	2–1	1–1	0–1	0–0	1–0	1–0	2–3	—	0–0	1–2	1–1	2–1	3–2	2–1	4–0
RC Oued Zem	2–0	1–1	0–0	0–1	0–0	3–1	1–0	0–1	1–1	—	2–0	1–0	1–0	1–2	1–0	2–1
MA Tétouan	0–1	1–2	0–1	0–2	1–0	1–3	2–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	—	2–1	0–2	1–0	4–3	1–1
OC Khouribga	1–1	0–5	2–1	2–1	3–3	1–1	2–2	1–2	1–0	1–0	1–0	—	1–1	3–0	1–0	5–0
CR Al Hoceima	2–0	0–0	1–1	0–0	2–2	0–0	2–1	1–1	1–1	1–2	0–2	1–1	—	1–0	2–0	1–2
KAC Marrakesh	2–2	2–1	0–0	2–1	2–5	0–3	1–1	0–1	0–2	3–2	0–0	2–1	1–0	—	1–1	0–0
CA Khénifra	0–1	0–0	1–5	1–1	3–3	2–3	2–0	0–0	1–1	2–3	2–0	0–1	1–0	0–0	—	2–0
Racing AC	1–2	0–1	0–3	2–2	0–3	1–2	1–2	0–1	1–3	3–1	0–2	2–1	0–1	1–2	1–1	—

Updated to match(es) played on 21 May 2018. Source: Botola Pro
Legend: Blue = home team win; Yellow = draw; Red = away team win.
For upcoming matches, an "a" indicates there is an article about the rivalry between the two participants.

Season statistics

Top goalscorers

As of 20 May 2018.[2][3]

Rank	Player	Club	Goals
1	Mouhssine Iajour	Raja CA	17
2	Mehdi Naghmi	IR Tanger	13
3	Ayoub Kaabi	RS Berkane	12
4	Simon Msuva	DH Jadidi	11
5	Zouhair El Moutaraji	OC Khouribga	10
	Jalal Daoudi	HUS Agadir
7	Ibrahim Bezghoudi	AS FAR	9
	Mohamed Nahiri	Wydad AC
	Bilal El Megri	DH Jadidi
	Hamid Ahaddad	DH Jadidi

Top Assists

As of 14 April 2018[4]

Rank	Player	Club	Assists
1	Zakaria Hadraf	Raja CA	8
2	Abdelilah Hafidi	Raja CA	7
3	Omar Nemsaoui	RS Berkane	5
	Amin Tighazoui	Wydad AC
	Adnane El Ouardy	DH El Jadidi
	Abdelmoula Berrabeh	RC Oued Zem
7	Lamine Diakite	Fath US	4
	Mohammed Ali Bamaamar	DH El Jadidi
	Abderrahim Achchakir	Raja CA
	Amine Dghoughi	Racing AC
	Jalal Daoudi	HUS Agadir
	Ahmed Hamoudan	IR Tanger
	Bilal El Megri	DH Jadidi

Hat-tricks

Player	For	Against	Result	Date	Round
Hamid Ahaddad	DH Jadidi	OC Khouribga	4–1 (H)	3 December 2017	10
Mouhssine Iajour	Raja CA	OC Khouribga	4–3 (H)	14 February 2018	16
Hamza Goudali	OC Safi	AS FAR	4–3 (A)	14 April 2018	25

(H) – Home ; (A) – Away

Annual awards

The UMFP (Union Marocaine des Footballeurs Professionnels), in partnership with the Royal Moroccan Football Federation, organized the Night of Stars Award, which celebrated the brilliants of the Botola Pro for the 2017/18 season.[5]

Award	Winner	Club
Best Manager of the Season	Driss El Mrabet	IR Tanger
Best Player of the Season	Ahmed Hammoudan	IR Tanger
Best Promising Player of the Season	Mahmoud Benhalib	Raja CA
Best Goalkeeper of the Season	Abderrahman El Hoausli	HUS Agadir

See also

2017 Coupe du Trône
2017–18 Botola 2
2018 CAF Champions League
2018 CAF Confederation Cup

References

1. "La FRMF félicite l'IRT champion de Botola Maroc Télécom D1 (2017-2018)".
2. "Championnat National Botola Maroc Telecom 2017/2018 Top Scorers". fifa.com
3. "البطولة الإحترافية إتصالات المغرب 2018/2017 قائمة الهدافين". kooora.com
4. "Statistiques Botola Saison:2017/18 - Le classement des passeurs décisifs". mountakhab.net. Mountakhab. Archived from the original on 2 July 2017. Retrieved 31 December 2017.
5. "Soirée Gala La Nuit Des Stars De Football 2017/18" [Evening Gala The Night Of Football stars 2017/18]. Association Marocaine des Footballeurs. 15 August 2018. Retrieved 15 August 2018.

External links

• Fédération Royale Marocaine de Football