Underdog Stories / Football history

What Is the History of Raja Casablanca?

What is the history of Raja Casablanca? From its 1949 roots to African titles and a 2013 world final, follow the club, its fierce rival and its fans.

By Brett Hanson · Underdog Podcasts · September 30, 2026

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On December 18, 2013, Ronaldinho scored a free kick against Raja Casablanca. It looked like the sort of moment that belongs to the favorite. Then Raja scored twice and beat Atlético Mineiro 3–1.

The history of Raja Casablanca begins far from that world stage. Founded in 1949 in Casablanca’s Darb Sultan district, the club grew into a symbol of neighborhood pride, attacking football and fierce support. It won Africa’s top club title three times, built a rivalry with Wydad and reached the 2013 Club World Cup final.

In “Raja Club Athletic — The Club That Made Hope Loud,” an episode of Why We Love This Club, host Chris Horwedel starts with that semifinal. His choice makes sense. To see why the result shook Casablanca, though, you have to go back to a café.

What is the history of Raja Casablanca’s founding?

Raja was founded on March 20, 1949, in Darb Sultan. Morocco was still under French rule; independence would come in 1956. Horwedel describes the founders as trade unionists, nationalists and local organizers who met in cafés. A football club gave them something they could build and run together.

They called it Raja, Arabic for “hope.” That is a lot for a club name to carry, especially before anyone has won a match. Yet the name fit what its founders were doing. They were making a place for Moroccans to gather under a name of their own.

The setting matters. Darb Sultan was a crowded district of workers and traders, and Raja’s claim to be the People’s Club grew from that setting. The phrase can sound grand once a team fills a stadium. In 1949, it pointed to the people who had made the club.

Raja joined Morocco’s national first division after independence. It has never been relegated. Wydad Athletic Club, its city rival, was older, founded in 1937, with a history tied to Moroccan identity under colonial rule; Raja’s arrival gave Casablanca another club through which to tell that story.

Why is Raja called the People’s Club?

A nickname sticks when people keep finding use for it. Raja’s began with its roots in Darb Sultan. It grew through the crowds who followed the green shirts across Casablanca and through years when supporters remained the club’s most visible constant.

Raja and Wydad share Stade Mohammed V. On one match day, green fills the stands; on another, red does. Each club can call it home. Neither gets to keep the place to itself. The arrangement makes a simple point every week: the supporters change what the building feels like.

Horwedel describes green flags rising across Raja’s southern stand and songs carrying over the running track. Supporter groups including the Green Boys and Ultras Eagles organize displays and chants. One song, “F’Bladi Delmouni,” speaks of feeling wronged in one’s own country. It became known well beyond the stadium.

That does not mean every Raja supporter shares one political view. A crowd that large never does. It does mean the stand gives people a way to be heard together, sometimes on subjects that have little to do with the score. The People’s Club has a noisy way of taking its nickname seriously.

What kind of football is Raja known for?

Horwedel says Raja became known for short passing, dribbling and an urge to attack. He describes a “Raja school”: less a fixed set of instructions than a demand from the stands. In his words, “A Raja team would not merely collect points. It should make the ball feel alive.”

That is a lovely demand. It is also hard on a coach whose team wins without much flair. A tidy defensive victory might count in the table and still leave the crowd wanting to see a player try something brave.

Abdelmajid Doulmi showed why that taste took hold. The midfielder spent nearly his whole career at Raja and played for Morocco at the 1986 World Cup. Horwedel describes his gift as calm reading of the game. He made room for a pass before the defender knew there was room to find.

Later sides had their own players to watch. Salaheddine Bassir brought goals before moving to European football. Mouhcine Moutouali, a product of Raja’s youth ranks, supplied invention in the team that reached the 2013 world final. Different players, different decades. The crowd kept asking for the ball to move.

When did Raja become champions of Africa?

“A Raja team would not merely collect points. It should make the ball feel alive.”
— Chris Horwedel, on Why We Love This Club

Raja won its first Moroccan league title in 1988. The next year, it reached the final of the African Cup of Champions Clubs against Algeria’s MC Oran. Raja won 1–0 at home, lost 1–0 away, then took the title 4–2 on penalties.

The second African crown came in 1997, after a final against Ghana’s Ashanti Gold also went to penalties. Raja won a third in 1999. Three titles in 11 years changed the size of the club’s ambitions, while giving its supporters matches to remember in exact, nerve-wracking detail.

The 1999 final supplied plenty. Raja drew 0–0 with Espérance de Tunis in Casablanca. In the return leg, defender Abdelatif Jrindou got a red card. Goalkeeper Mustapha Chadli saved a penalty during the match. He stopped another shot in the shootout. Raja won 4–3.

The trophies did not end there. Raja won the CAF Cup in 2003 and the CAF Confederation Cup in 2018 and 2021. The 2018 final against AS Vita Club deserves a close look. Raja won the first leg 3–0, then lost 3–1 in Kinshasa. Horwedel gives the first-leg score as 3–1 in the episode. CAF’s record shows 3–0. Raja advanced 4–3 on aggregate.

What happened in Raja’s comeback against Wydad?

On November 23, 2019, Wydad led Raja 4–1 late in the second leg of an Arab Club Champions Cup tie. Both clubs were playing at the stadium they share. Wydad looked set to send its rival out in front of the same city that would have to discuss it the next morning.

Raja scored three times. Ben Malango scored the last goal in stoppage time. That made it 4–4 on the night. The first leg had ended 1–1. The tie finished 5–5 on aggregate. Raja advanced on away goals under the rules used then.

People called it the remontada, the comeback. Horwedel uses the match to show how much the derby holds: two clubs arguing through football over the right to speak for Casablanca. Wydad has its own claim, of course. That is why a shared stadium can feel like contested ground even when nobody has changed seats.

The comeback also catches something about Raja’s style. With a match nearly gone, caution had little to offer. Raja kept attacking, and the final goal gave its supporters a scoreline they could repeat to Wydad supporters for years.

How did Raja reach the 2013 Club World Cup final?

Morocco hosted the 2013 FIFA Club World Cup, giving Raja a place in the tournament as its domestic champion. A new coach, Faouzi Benzarti, had arrived just before it began. Raja beat Auckland City 2–1, then beat Monterrey 2–1 after extra time. Next came Atlético Mineiro, South America’s champion, with Ronaldinho in its side.

Mouhcine Iajour put Raja ahead in the semifinal. Ronaldinho equalized with that free kick. Moutouali scored from the penalty spot, and Vianney Mabide added a third in stoppage time. Raja won 3–1 on December 18. A week that had begun with a host club getting its place in the draw now had Casablanca preparing for a world final.

Bayern Munich won the final 2–0. Horwedel puts the limit plainly: “Raja had not become the best club on earth.” Still, Raja had beaten three teams to get there, including the champion of South America. Its supporters did not need a trophy to know how unusual that was.

Raja had been here before. At the first Club World Championship, in Brazil in 2000, it lost 3–2 to Real Madrid. The 2013 run gave the world another look at the green shirts, this time for much longer.

What has Raja won since the world final?

The club kept collecting titles after 2013, including those CAF Confederation Cups in 2018 and 2021. In 2024, Raja completed an unbeaten Moroccan league season. Raja then beat FAR Rabat 2–1 in the Throne Cup final, sealing a domestic double.

A club’s record can make its past look smooth. Horwedel also describes debt, changes in leadership and pressure to meet the demands of professional football. Those problems sit beside the trophies. They do not disappear because a crowd can sing through a match.

The older story remains close enough to touch. Raja still wears green. Wydad still walks into the same stadium wearing red. And somewhere before the next match, someone will have an opinion on whether the team is playing like Raja. A result alone may not settle the argument.

The full episode of Why We Love This Club is on Underdog Podcasts, with the rest of the network's shows.