Ittihad Tanger
Ittihad Riadi Tanger (Arabic: الاتحاد الرياضي لطنجة)[1] known as Ittihad Tanger, abbreviation IRT, is a moroccan football club based in Tangier The club was founded in 1983 as a union of a number of old clubs around Tangier at the time (including "Tangier Rebirth", "FC Iberia" as the main figures of the fusion). Ittihad Riadi Tanger has a basketball team, football, volleyball and Rugby teams, supporting wide range of sports as well. Their home games are hosted at Stade Ibn Batouta ( Stade de Marchan was their former home ground before it was demolished and rebuilt as a park). IR Tanger has a large fanbase in northern Morocco, especially in the Tanger–Tetouan-Alhoceima region as it is the only relatively one of the biggest clubs in the region and the country itself.
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| Full name | Ittihad Riadi de Tanger الاتحاد الرياضي لطنجة | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | Hercules, Boughaz's Knight | |||
| Short name | IRT | |||
| Founded | 1983 | |||
| Ground | Stade Ibn Batouta Tangier, Morocco | |||
| Capacity | 45,000 | |||
| Chairman | Abdelhamid Abarchan | |||
| Manager | Hicham Dmii | |||
| League | Botola | |||
| 2018–19 | 5th | |||
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History
IR Tanger was set up by a fusion of several clubs. Among these were Renaissance de Tanger ('Reborn of Tangier') and other clubs who were playing at the second Moroccan league divisions at the time. The fusion resulted in the a prominent club which stands out in Tangier, especially in the football field, without significant rivalries (Widad Juventud is another sports club operating in Tangier but with less public attention, alongside Maghreb Aqsa Club the oldest existing club participating in the third Division and the amateur section).
In the early 90s, IR Tangier was one of the most dominating clubs in the Botola delivering some quality football,However, the team could not capitalise, they failed to win any trophies although they came close in the 1989/90 season when they finished as runners up. The notorious 89' season in considered by many to be their best ever as the team piled up victory after another crushing most of the Botola's heavyweights at that time, infamously beating Casablanca's Raja 3 to 1 and Maghreb de Fes 3 to nil. Moving on to the later 90s, the Ittihad failed to achieve anything besides maintaining itself in the Botola pro ( known as Botola 1 at the time ). They ended up getting relegated twice before the dawn of the new millennium, finishing rock bottom on respectively both 95/96 and 97/98 seasons.
The 00/01 season would witness a new Ittihad Tangier, under new management and technical supervision, Coach "Omar Raiss" joined the club on July 2000 and managed to transform the club, The Ittihad's attack became more efficient scoring more than 50 goals that season while its defense was the strongest in the GNF2. These efforts were crowned with a well-deserved promotion , the overall results looked comforting and the Ittihad's future seemed bright.
The post-promotion era, however, didn't turn out as glorious as it seemed would. a load of technical and staff changes influenced the team's results, and throughout the early 2000s, the only notable achievement was a Throne cup semi-final in the 05/06 season, under governance of Abdelhadi Sektioui, the following season would the Ittihad's last in the Botola, starting what the fans refer to as the "dark ages" of the Ittihad in the 2nd division, an era that lasted 8 long years during which the Ittihad constantly faced risks of dissolution due to administrative mistakes and financial crises, and every time would be rescued by fans and the faithful ultras group. In parallel, the results were as poor as ever, the team would almost always finish middle or bottom table, never able to go past the cup's the round of 32, and even a prevented historical relegation to the 3rd division (Houate) in the 12/13 season. It seemed obvious that Tangerian football was suffering and the ultras group mobilized fans throughout the now-metropolis, requesting new management and a complete renovation of the club via protests and marches. These efforts would later on yield many achievements, after setting up a new directive committee, the club nearly made it back to the Botola on the 13/14 season, and with a series of transfers and the arrival of Coach Mohamed Amine Benhachem, the team cruised through the 14/15 season, losing only twice and finishing first by a 5 point lead. The performances made that season were phenomenal and attracted the attention of the entire Moroccan football scene as everyone welcomed the mighty blues back where they belonged.
In 2015–16 the team made a comeback to the Botola Pro after 8 years in the 2nd division, the club contracted with many local and foreign players where they made a great show under the spotlight of the Botola with promising results, finishing 3rd on their first season back from promotion and therefore qualifying to an African competition for the first time in the history of the club.
Season results
League and cup
| Season | League | Top goalscorer | Moroccan Cup | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Div. | Pos. | Pl. | W | D | L | GS | GA | P | Name | League | ||
| 2013–14 | 2nd | 3rd | 30 | 12 | 12 | 6 | 33 | 21 | 48 |  |
12 | Round of 32 |
| 2014–15 | 2nd | 1st | 30 | 13 | 15 | 2 | 22 | 11 | 54 | |
4 | Round of 32 |
| 2015–16 | 1st | 3rd | 30 | 14 | 8 | 8 | 36 | 23 | 50 |  |
7 | Quarter-finals |
| 2016–17 | 1st | 5th | 30 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 33 | 25 | 45 | |
6 | Semi-finals |
| 2017–18 | 1st | 1st | 30 | 14 | 10 | 6 | 34 | 23 | 52 | |
13 | Round of 16 |
| 2018–19 | 1st | 5th | 30 | 9 | 13 | 8 | 27 | 30 | 40 | |
9 | Round of 16 |
African competitions
| Year | Competition | Round | Opponent | Home | Away | Aggregate | Q |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | CAF Confederation Cup | PR |  |
1–0 | 2–1 | 3–1 |  |
| 1R |  |
3–0 | 0–1 | 3–1 | | ||
| PO | |
3–2 | 0–2 | 3–4 |  | ||
| 2018–19 | CAF Champions League | PR |  |
1–0 | 0–0 | 1–0 | |
| 1R |  |
1–0 | 0–2 | 1–2 | | ||
| 2018–19 | CAF Confederation Cup | PO |  |
0–0 | 1–3 | 1–3 | |
- Notes
- PR: Preliminary round
- 1R: First round
- PO: Play-off round
Arab competitions
| Year | Competition | Round | Opponent | Score | Position | Q |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019–20 | Arab Club Champions Cup | PR |  |
0–2 | 2nd | |
 |
3–0 | |||||
 |
6–1 |
- Notes
- PR: Preliminary round
Crest and shirt
The official crest was planned by the founders and decided in a democratic process. It shows the full name of the Club and the year of foundation, but different sport departments of the club replace the year with the icon of the sport. The Blue lining is in honour of the north region. The icon on the right is the symbol of Tangier.
The official home shirts are similar to the crest, colored blue and white. IRT's traditional away colors change every season but are usually based on light blue with a sponsor's logo on the top. The shirts are made by King Sports and Joma. However, the club signed a sponsorship deal with local sportswear manufacturer Bang sport once it got promoted to the first division.
Home Ground
The football Club hosted the home matches in the government built Stadium of Marchan of 15,000 seats. In 2011 the club moved to a new international stadium with a capacity of 45,000 (and a potential for a maximum of 75,000 seats) called Ibn Batouta Stadium. This stadium is planned to host the 2012 African Cup U21, the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations and some matches of the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup and the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup. The old grounds of Marchan Stadium hosted several historical moments like the match between IR Tangier VS Wydad Casablanca in the 1989–90 season for the first place of Botola and an amical match in Ibn Batouta Stadium with Atlético Madrid.
In 2015 and 2016 the grand stadium of Batouta had his record attendance estimated over than 50,000. the stadium is notorious throughout Morocco and all over the Arab world for the masses of supporters that show up each game ( an average of 35,000 per game). which makes the club's finances rely mainly on ticket income.
Supporters and rivalries
The club has an ultras group Ultras Hercules, who were founded in 2007, there was actually an older ultra called Ultras Tanger founded in 2003, but there is no remaining of this group since it was extended to form Ultras Hercules, even though there are still a few existing groups on Facebook, Skyblog and Blogger mainly.
The rivalry's moreover relative to their neighbour club of Tetouan which its characterises with an extensive match, we distinguish other big rivalries as Wydad, Raja and KAC supporters.
The Northern Derby
Their biggest rival is without a doubt Moghreb Tétouan, the first club of the neighboring city, Tétouan, it is one of the most awaited matches of the first division league, especially among northern Morocco as the two famous clubs of the region facing off each other. This derby is always attended by a great number of people due to its value and importance among supporters. There is another match considered sometimes as a Derby of the region along with Chabab Rif Al Hoceima, but it is not as important as Moghreb Tétouan.
Sponsors
- Gloria
- Renault
- Moroccan Airports Authority
- APM Terminals
- Tanger-Med
- STG telecom
Players
Current squad
- As of 1 July 2020
Where a player has not declared an international allegiance, nation is determined by place of birth.
| No. | Position | Player | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2 | Midfielder | Anas El Asbahi (on loan from Wydad AC) | |
| 3 | Defender | Hatim El Ouahabi | |
| 4 | Midfielder | Kamal Ait El Haj | |
| 5 | Defender | Mohamed Aymen Sadil | |
| 6 | Midfielder | Nouaman Aarab (captain) | |
| 7 | Forward | Mohamed El Amraoui | |
| 8 | Midfielder | Faouzi Abdel Mutalib | |
| 11 | Forward | Taoufik Ijroten | |
| 14 | Midfielder | Youssef Anouar | |
| 15 | Defender | Ayoub Jarfi (vice-captain) | |
| 16 | Midfielder | Ahmed Chentouf | |
| 18 | Midfielder | Soufian Echaraf | |
| 19 | Defender | Mustapha Camara | |
| 20 | Midfielder | Ibrahim Bezghoudi | |
| 21 | Forward | Abdelghani Mouaoui | |
| 22 | Defender | Tarik Asstati | |
| 23 | Midfielder | Reda Mhannaoui | |
| 24 | Defender | Noureddine Aboulfarah | |
| 25 | Defender | Anouar Jayid | |
| 29 | Defender | El Hadji Youssoupha Konaté |  |
| 31 | Midfielder | Sofian El Moudane | |
| 33 | Goalkeeper | Imad Askar | |
| 40 | Defender | Mehdi Khallati | |
| 55 | Goalkeeper | Tarik Aouattah | |
| 65 | Goalkeeper | Hicham El Mejhed | |
| 77 | Forward | Mukoko Batezadio |  |
| 93 | Defender | Mohamed Chibi | |
| — | Defender | Kassi Akesse Mathias | |
Out on loan
Where a player has not declared an international allegiance, nation is determined by place of birth.
| No. | Position | Player | Nation |
|---|---|---|---|
| — | Forward | Ahmed Hammoudan (on loan to Al-Khor until 30 June 2020) | |
| — | Forward | Younes Ed-dyb (on loan to IZ Khemisset until 30 June 2020) | |
Managers
References
External links
