Ittihad Tanger

Ittihad Tanger
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	Driss El Mrabet
League	Botola
2019–20	14th

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 merger of a number of old clubs around Tangier at the time (including "Renaissance de Tangier" and "F.C. Iberia" as the main figures). Ittihad Riadi Tanger also has basketball, 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 fan base 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.

History

IR Tanger was set up by a fusion of several clubs. Among these were Renaissance de Tangier ("Reborn of Tangier") and other clubs who were playing at the second Moroccan league divisions at the time. The fusion resulted in the formation of a prominent club that stands out in Tangier, especially in the football pitch, without significant rivalries (Wydad 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).

IR Tangier back in the late 1980s and 1990s.

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 capitalize, failing to win any trophies in the process, although they came close in the 1989-90 season when they finished as runners-up. The 1989 season was 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 Raja Casablanca 3-1 and Maghreb de Fès 3-0.

Moving on to the later part of the '90s, IR Tanger failed to achieve anything besides maintaining itself in the Botola. They ended up getting relegated twice before the dawn of the new millennium, finishing rock bottom on the table during the 1995-96 and 1997-98 seasons.

The 2000-01 season would witness a new Ittihad Tangier, under new management and technical supervision, Coach Omar Raiss joined the club in July 2000 and managed to transform the club. IR Tanger's attack became more efficient, scoring more than 50 goals that season, while its defense was the strongest in the GNF 2. These efforts were crowned with a well-deserved promotion, the overall results looked comforting, and IR Tanger'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 2005-06 season, under governance of Abdelhadi Sektioui, the following season would become IR Tanger's last in the Botola, starting what the fans refer to as their "dark ages" in the 2nd division, an era that lasted eight long years, during which IR Tanger constantly faced risks of dissolution due to administrative mistakes and financial crises, and every single time they 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 Round of 32 in the Throne Cup, and even a prevented historical relegation to the Third Division during the 2012-13 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 during the 2013-14 season, and with a series of transfers and the arrival of Coach Mohamed Amine Benhachem, the team cruised through the 2014-15 season, losing only twice and finishing first by a five-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 season, the team made a comeback to the Botola Pro after eight years in the second 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 third on their first season back from promotion and therefore qualifying to an African competition for the first time in the history of the club.

IR Tangiers team in 2015–16 Season

Season results

League and cup

Season	League									Top goalscorer		Moroccan Cup
Season	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Name	League	Moroccan Cup
2015–16	1st	3rd	30	14	8	8	36	23	50	Hervé Guy	7	Semi-finals
2016–17	1st	5th	30	12	9	9	33	25	45	Ahmed Hammoudan	6	Round of 16
2017–18	1st	1st	30	14	10	6	34	23	52	Mehdi Naghmi	13	Round of 16
2018–19	1st	5th	30	9	13	8	27	30	40	Mehdi Naghmi	9	Quarter-finals
2019–20	1st	14th	30	7	11	12	20	36	32	Sofian El Moudane	4

African competitions

Year	Competition	Round	Opponent	Home	Away	Aggregate
2017	CAF Confederation Cup	PR	AS Douanes	1–0	2–1	3–1
		1R	AS Kaloum	3–0	0–1	3–1
		PO	Horoya AC	3–2	0–2	3–4
2018–19	CAF Champions League	PR	Elect-Sport FC	1–0	0–0	1–0
2018–19	CAF Champions League	1R	JS Saoura	1–0	0–2	1–2
2018–19	CAF Confederation Cup	PO	Zamalek SC	0–0	1–3	1–3

Arab competition

Year	Competition	Round	Opponent	Score	Position
2019–20	Arab Club Champions Cup	PR	Riffa SC	0–2	2nd
			Al-Zawraa SC	3–0
			Horseed FC	6–1

Notes

PR: Preliminary round
1R: First round
PO: Play-off 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 club hosted their home matches in the government-built Stade de Marchan, with a capacity 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 Stade Ibn Batouta. 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.

Honors

Botola

Winners: 2017–18

Botola 2

Winners (2): 2000–01, 2014–15

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.

Kit suppliers and shirt sponsors

Period	Kit manufacturer	Shirt main sponsor	Shirt sub sponsor	League sponsor
2015–2016	Bang Sports	ONDA	None	Maroc Telecom
2016–2017		ONDA & UNE & APM Terminals	None
2017–2018		Renault & APM Terminals & UNE & ONDA	Tanger-Med & Valencia (juice) & RCI Finance Maroc
2018–2019	Gloria	Renault & APM Terminals & Tanger-Med & ONDA	Valencia (juice) & STG Telecom & RCI Finance Maroc
2019–2020		Renault & APM Terminals & Tanger-Med & ONDA	STG Telecom & RCI Finance Maroc	None
2020–2021		Tanger-Med	Experience Majorel	Inwi

Players

Current squad

As of 28 January 2021

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	Morocco
3	Defender	Hatim El Ouahabi	Morocco
4	Defender	Hakim Aklidou	Morocco
5	Midfielder	Mohammed Ali Bemammer	Morocco
6	Midfielder	Nouaman Aarab (captain)	Morocco
7	Forward	Youssef Anouar	Morocco
8	Midfielder	Faouzi Abdel Mutalib	Morocco
10	Midfielder	Kahled Saroukh	Morocco
11	Forward	Axel Méyé	Gabon
13	Defender	Oussama Al Aiz	Morocco
14	Forward	Ibrahim Bezghoudi	Morocco
15	Defender	Ayoub Jarfi	Morocco
16	Midfielder	Ahmed Chentouf	Morocco
19	Midfielder	Marouane Nebouch	Morocco
20	Defender	Mohamed Aymen Sadil	Morocco
23	Forward	Abdellatif Akhrif	Morocco
25	Midfielder	Anouar Jayed	Morocco
26	Defender	Stévy Nzambé	Gabon
29	Defender	El Hadji Youssoupha Konaté	Senegal
33	Goalkeeper	Imad Askar	Morocco
40	Defender	Mehdi Khallati (vice-captain)	Morocco
55	Goalkeeper	Tarik Aouattah	Morocco
65	Goalkeeper	Hicham El Majhad (3rd captain)	Morocco
66	Midfielder	Yassine El Asri	Morocco
70	Defender	Tarik Astati	Morocco
76	Forward	Taoufik Ijroten	Morocco
77	Forward	Mukoko Batezadio	DR Congo
93	Defender	Mohamed Chibi	Morocco