IR Tanger

Ittihad Riadi Tanger (Arabic: الاتحاد الرياضي لطنجة, lit.'Sports Union of Tangier'),^[2] often shortened to IR Tanger or the abbreviation IRT, is a Moroccan football club based in Tangier, that competes in Botola, Morocco's top professional football league.^[3]

IR Tanger
اتحاد طنجة

Full name	Ittihad Riadi de Tanger الاتحاد الرياضي لطنجة
Nickname(s)	Faris Al Boughaz' (team) Hercules (supporters)
Short name	IRT
Founded	1936; 88 years ago (1936) as Unión Deportiva España de Tánger officially: 1944; 80 years ago (1944)
Ground	Ibn Batouta Stadium
Capacity	65,000[1]
Chairman	Mohammed Cherkaoui
Manager	Hilal Et-Tair
League	Botola
2023–24	12th of 16
Website	http://irtfoot.ma/
Home colours Away colours Third colours
Current season

The club was founded in 1936 as Unión Deportiva España de Tánger (UDET); After the independence of Morocco in 1956, the club changed was renamed to Unión Deportiva de Tánger (UDT). In 1983, several local football clubs were merged into UDT, and Ittihad Riadi Tanger was formed.

IR Tanger's home games are hosted at Ibn Batouta Stadium. In the past, Stade de Marchan was their home stadium until its demolition.

IR Tanger has a large fan base in northern Morocco, particularly in the Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima region.

History

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

IR Tanger was created by the fusion of several clubs in 1944. In the early 1990s, IR Tangier became one of the most successful clubs in the Botola. However, the club failing to win any trophies, 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 season, as the team was victorious over many other notable Botola clubs, defeating Raja Casablanca 3-1 and Maghreb de Fès 3–0.

During the late 1990s, IR Tanger failed to achieve anything besides maintaining itself in the Botola. The club ended up getting relegated twice before the early 2000s, finishing unsuccessfully during the 1995–96 and 1997–98 seasons.

In July 2000, the club hired Coach Omar Raiss. He oversaw the improvement in the club's performance during the 2000–01 season, during which they scored 50 goals. Because of their performance, the club received a promotion. Their performance declined, however, with their only notable achievement in the early 2000s being a Throne Cup they won during the semi-final in the 2005–06 season. The following season became IR Tanger's last in the Botola for the next few years. During this time, the club's results were poor, and they would very often finish unsuccessfully.

During later years, after IR Tanger set up a new directive committee, it nearly made it back to the Botola during the 2013–14 season. 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.

During the 2015–16 season, the team made a comeback to the Botola Pro. The club contracted with many local and foreign players, finishing third in their first season and qualifying for the 2017 CAF Confederation Cup for the first time.

IR Tangiers team in 2015–16 Season

Supporters and rivalries

In 2003, the club's ultras, called Ultras Tanger, was founded; this group no longer exists and has instead been replaced by the ultras group named Ultras Hercules that was founded in 2007.

IR Tanger has a rivalry with Moghreb Tétouan, which belongs to the neighboring city, Tétouan.

Botola Pro 1 matches
There were no matches between the teams in the First Division before 1990.
#	Date	Matchweek	Home team	Away team	Score (FT/HT)	Goals (Home)	Goals (Away)
1	1990		IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	4–1	?, ?, ?, ?	?
2	1991		MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	0–2		?, ?
1991–1995		There were no matches between the teams in the First Division. For the 1991–92 season, MA Tetouan was relegated to Second Division.
3	1995		MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	1–0	?
4	1996		IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	1–3	?	?, ?, ?
1996–2005		there were no matches between them in the First Division, each having returned to it at different moments, but not together.
5	17 December 2005	12	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	0–0 (0–0)
6	21 May 2006	27	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	0–1 (0–0)		Moussafi (88)
7	18 November 2006	8	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	0–0 (0–0)
8	8 April 2007	23	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	1–0	?
2007–2015		There were no matches between the teams in the First Division. For the 2006–07 season, IR Tanger was relegated to Second Division.
9	3 October 2015	3	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	2–2 (2–0)	Rafik (p. (28), Boukhriss (42)	El Maimouni (58), Krouch (64)
10	28 February 2016	18	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	1–0 (0–0)	Hawassi (89)
11	11 December 2016	12	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	0–1 (0–1)	Krouch ((p. 27)
12	7 May 2017	27	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	0–1 (0–1)		Hervé (38)
13	27 December 2017	14	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	0–1 (0–1		Hamoudan (45)
14	12 May 2018	29	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	2–1 (0–1)	Chentouf 48), El Moussaoui (o.g. 60)	Fall (28)
15	22 September 2018	3	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	1–1 (1–0)	El Ouadi (42)	Lakhal (69)
16	16 February 2019	18	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	1–1 (1–0)	Hawassi (10)	El Ouadi (66)
17	11 January 2020	12	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	0–0 (0–0)
18	30 September 2020	27	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	1–0 (1–0)	Ijroten (46)
19	20 December 2020	4	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	1–1 (1–1)	Méyé (p. 6)	Bemammer (o.g. 26)
20	23 May 2021	19	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	1–0 (0–0)	Gueye (90+4)
2021–2022		For the 2021–22 season, MA Tetouan was relegated to Second Division.
21	9 September 2022	2	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	1–0 (0–0)	Kamal (63)
22	21 February 2023	17	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	2–0 (2–0)	El Ouassli (7), Moutouali (18)
23	26 November 2023	10	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	1–1 (1–1)	El Wasti (45+2)	Badji (20)
24	14 April 2024	25	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	1–1 (0–0)	Badji (p. 74)	Saoud (83)
25	2024	11	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	– (–)
26	2025	26	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	– (–)

Botola Pro 2 matches
#	Date	Matchweek	Home team	Away team	Score (FT/HT)	Goals (Home)	Goals (Away)
There is no data for the 1983/84–1986/87 and 1998/99 seasons.
	16 January 2000	14	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	0–2		?, ?
	3 June 2000	29	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	2–3	?, ?	?, ?, ?
	3 December 2000	10	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	2–1	?, ?	?
	7 April 2001	25	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	1–1

Moroccan Throne Cup matches
Season	Round		Home team	Away team	Score (FT/HT)	Goals (Home)	Goals (Away)
1994–95	Round of 16		IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	2–1	?, ?	?
2000–01	Round of 32		IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	0–1		?
2016	Round of 32	1st leg	IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	4–0 (2–0)	Hervé (34), El Helali (39), Boukhriss (67), Mouaoui (74)
		2nd leg	MA Tetouan	IR Tanger	2–0 (0–0)	Krouch (55, 90+1)
2018	Round of 32		IR Tanger	MA Tetouan	1–0 (0–0)	M'baï

Matches summary
	Matches	Wins		Draws	Goals			Home wins		Home draws		Away wins
		IRT	MAT		IRT	MAT		IRT	MAT	IRT	MAT	IRT	MAT
Botola	24	7	8	9	21	19		4	5	5	4	3	3
Botola 2	4	1	2	1	6	6		0	1	1	0	1	1
Moroccan Throne Cup	5	3	2	0	7	4		3	1	0	0	0	1
All competitions	33	11	12	10	34	29		7	7	6	4	4	5

Crest and shirt

The official crest was designed by the club's founders. It depicts the full name of the club and the year it was founded. The blue lining represents the club's location in northern Morocco.

The official home shirts are similar to the crest, colored blue and white. IR Tanger's traditional away colors change every season but are usually based on light blue with a sponsor's logo on the top.

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
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			STG Telecom & RCI Finance Maroc	None
2020–2021		Tanger-Med	Experience Majorel	Inwi
2021–2022			Biougnach
2022–			None

Stadium

Main article: Ibn Batouta Stadium

The club hosted their home matches in the Stade de Marchan, a stadium with a capacity of 15,000 seats, until it was demolished. The Stade de Marchan hosted several notable matches like the one between IR Tanger vs. Wydad Casablanca during the 1989–90 season. In 2011 the club moved to the then-new Ibn Batouta Stadium, which has a capacity of 65,000 (that will be increased to a maximum of 92,000 seats).

Stadium	Period
Stade de Marchan	1983–2011
Ibn Batouta Stadium	2012–present

Ibn Batouta Stadium

Season results

Main article: List of IR Tanger seasons

League and cup

Season	League									Top goalscorer		Moroccan Cup
	Div.	Pos.	Pl.	W	D	L	GS	GA	P	Name	League
2015–16	1st	3rd	30	14	8	8	36	23	50	Hervé Guy	7	Quarter-finals
2016–17	1st	5th	30	12	9	9	33	25	45	Ahmed Hammoudan	6	Semi-finals
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	Round of 16
2019–20	1st	14th	30	7	11	12	20	36	32	Sofian El Moudane	4	Quarter-finals
2020–21	1st	8th	30	10	6	14	29	36	36	Axel Méyé	12	Round of 16
2021–22	1st	13th	30	8	9	13	31	41	33	Axel Méyé	12	Round of 16
2022–23	1st	14th	30	8	5	17	23	39	29	Sofian El Moudane	5	Round of 16
2023–24	1st	12th	30	7	12	11	29	38	33	Ismail Khafi	13	Round of 32

African competitions

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

Notes

• PR: Preliminary round
• 1R: First round
• PO: Play-off round

Honours

Type	Competition	Titles	Winning Seasons	Runners-up
Domestic	Botola	1	2017–18	1989–90
	Botola 2	2	2000–01, 2014–15	1986–87, 1996–97,

Players

Current squad

As of 16 October 2024^[4]

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 2 DF  MAR Youssef Chaina 4 DF  MAR Mohamed Saoud 6 MF  MAR Nouaman Aarab (captain) 8 MF  MAR Faouzi Abdelmottalib 12 GK  MAR Rayan Azouagh 13 DF  MAR Oussama Al Aiz 15 MF  MAR Ayoub Jarfi (vice-captain) 16 MF  MAR Ahmed Chentouf (3rd-captain) 17 MF  MAR Abdelhamid Maâli 18 FW  MAR Hamza El Wasti 19 FW  MAR Jawad Ghabra

No. Pos. Nation Player 22 DF  MAR Zakaria Kiani 23 DF  MAR Anass Lamrabat 24 DF  MAR Akram El Wahabi 26 GK  MAR Yassin El Hachloufi 27 FW  MAR Soulaimane Ait Dani 30 FW  MAR Ali El Harrak 31 DF  ALG Walid Bencherifa 33 MF  MAR Salaheddine Cheffani 35 FW  MAR Mohammed Moujahid 72 GK  MAR Badreddine Benachour 73 GK  MAR Youssef Laghzal

Reserve team and Youth Academy

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 38 MF  MAR Noureddine Benfakir 45 MF  MAR Marwane Lahbouri 46 DF  MAR Salmane Ashiban

No. Pos. Nation Player 47 DF  MAR Omar Barrak Belakhdar 50 MF  MAR Youssef Ezzarradi

Former players

• Abdellah El Moudene
• Gaya Merbah
• Bassirou Compaoré
• Enes Šipović
• Hugo Almeida
• Ismaël Ankobo
• Hervé Guy
• Jacques N'da
• Alexis Enam
• Brice Owona
• Mukoko Batezadio
• Zoran Plazonić
• Pablo Ganet
• Pape Paye
• Abdou Atchabao
• Axel Méyé
• Stévy Nzambé
• Zakaria Alharaish
• Abdelatif Noussir
• Abdellatif Akhrif
• Abdelfettah Boukhriss
• Abdelghani Mouaoui
• Abdelhakim Aklidou
• Abdelkabir El Ouadi
• Abdessamad Rafik
• Adil Chihi
• Adil Lamrabet
• Ahmad Hamoudan
• Ahmed Mohamadina
• Ahmed Reda Tagnaouti
• Aissa Sioudi
• Anas El Asbahi
• Ayoub El Khaliqi
• Badr Zaki Nacer
• Benaissa Benamar
• Bilal Danguir
• Driss El Mrabet
• Faouzi Abdelghani
• Habib Allah Dahmani
• Hamdi Laachir
• Hafid Abdessadek
• Hicham El Mejhed
• Ibrahim Bezghoudi
• Ismail Belmaalem
• Issam Badda
• Ismail Khafi
• Issam Erraki
• Jalal Daoudi
• Khalid Fouhami
• Lahcen Abrami
• Mehdi Naghmi
• Mohamed Amsif
• Mohamed Bouldini
• Mohamed Chibi
• Mohamed Fouzair
• Mohamed Madihi
• Mohamed Souboul
• Mohammed Ali Bemammer
• Mohsine Moutouali
• Nabil Jaadi
• Noussair El Maimouni
• Omar Arjoune
• Omar Najdi
• Rachid Housni
• Reda Jaadi
• Sofian El Moudane
• Soufian Echaraf
• Soufian El Hassnaoui
• Talal El Karkouri
• Youcef Sekour
• Youssef Benali
• Zouhair Laaroubi
• Abdoulaye Demba
• Abdoulaye Diarra
• Ismaël Diakité
• Carlos Gomes*
• Carlos Fortes
• Ousseynou Thioune

Personnel

Current technical staff

Position	Name
First team head coach	Hilal Et-tair
Assistant coach	Abdelouahed Benkacem
Goalkeeping coach	Mohammed Bestara
Fitness coach	Rachid Blej
Performance analyst	Ahmed Zekhnini
Club doctor	Houssine Azizi
Physiotherapist	Nacereddine Jabouri
Healer	Abdelmonhem Nafie
Delegate	Ali Haddou
Hope's team coach	Khalid Bahid
Hope's team assistant coach	Youssef Sekour
Hope's Team Fitness coach	Ahmed Azmi
Formation center manager	Abdelhakim Ben Saddik

Source:^[5][6]

Managers

• Jorvan Vieira (1984–86)
• Mohamed Baltham (1986–87)
• Abdelkhalek Louzani (1987–88)
• Bob Schneider (1988–89)
• Mário Ribeiro Nunes (1989–91)
• Abdellah Hammouni (1993–94)
• Jorvan Vieira (1993–94)
• Aziz El Amri (1996–97)
• Omar Rais (2000–01)
• Aziz El Amri (2001–02)
• Abdelhadi Sektioui (2002–03)
• Hassan Ajenoui (2003)
• Driss El Mrabet (2003–04)
• Rachid Taoussi (2004)
• Ricardo Serna (2004–05)
• Hamadi Hamidouch (2005)
• Abdelhadi Sektioui (2005–06)
• Raoul Savoy (2006)
• Aziz El Khayati (2006–07)
• Hassan Ajenoui (2007)
• Abderrazak Khairi (2007–08)
• Omar Rais (Oct 2008– )
• Mohamed Amine Benhachem (2009)
• Mohamed Bentaleb (–Mar 2010)
• Abdelmalek Ajbaten (Mar– 2010)
• Najib Hannouni (–Sep 2010)
• Said El Khider (Sep–Dec 2010)
• Omar Rais (Dec 2010– )
• Youssef Fertout (Jul–Nov 2012)
• Hicham Rok (–Jan 2013)
• Abdelkader Youmir (Jan–Jun 2013)
• Mohamed Said Zekri (Jul–Nov 2013)
• Omar Rais (Nov 2013–Jun 2014)
• Mohamed Amine Benhachem (Jun 2014–May 2015)
• Abdelhak Benchikha (Jun 2015–Apr 2017)
• Mohamed Sabek (Apr 2017)
• Bachir Bouita (Apr–May 2017)
• Ezzaki Badou (May–Nov 2017)
• Driss El Mrabet (Nov 2017–Sep 2018)
• Ahmad Al-Ajlani (Sep–Dec 2018)
• Abdelouahed Benkacem (Dec–Jun 2019)
• Nabil Neghiz (Jun 2019–Oct 2019)
• Abdelouahed Benkacem (Oct–Nov 2019)
• Hicham Dmiai (Nov 2019–Jan 2020)
• Juan Pedro Benali (Jan–Oct 2020)
• Driss El Mrabet (Nov 2020–Aug 2021)
• Bernard Casoni (Aug–Nov 2021)
• Jaafar R'kyek (Nov 2021)
• Miguel Ángel Gamondi (Nov 2021–Apr 2022)
• Juan Pedro Benali (Apr–Jul 2022)
• Ezzaki Badou (Jul–Oct 2022)
• Hakim Daoudi (Oct 2022–Jan 2023)
• Hilal Et-tair (Jan–Sep 2023)
• Omar Najhi (Sep 2023–Jan 2024)
• Hilal Et-tair (Jan 2024–)

Management

Board of directors

Position	Name
President	Mohammed Cherkaoui
Managing Director	Mohamed Hmami
First Vice President	Mohamed Boulaich
Second Vice President	Abdelhanin Gharafi
Third Vice President	Rachid El Hassani
Fourth Vice President	Anass Lamrabat
General Secretary	Abdellah El Mrabet Dajidi
Vice General Secretary	Issam El Ghachi
Treasurer	Redouan Bouhdid
Vice Treasurer	Said Zekri

Source:^[7][8]

Presidents

• Abdeslam Arbaine
• Hassan Bouhrize
• Abdelhak Bakhat (2009)
• Adil Defouf (–2012)
• Abdelhamid Aberchane (2013–21)
• Mohamed Ahagan (2021–22)
• Mohammed Cherkaoui (2023–24)
• Nassrallah El Guartit (2024–)

Partnerships

• CR Belouizdad (2017)^[9]
• RCD Espanyol (2018)^[10]
• CD Leganés (2019)^[11]

See also

• UD España
• EHA Tánger

References

1. "Stade Ibn Batouta (Grand Stade de Tanger)". StadiumDB.com. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
2. "The blue northern club of Tangiers". Archived from the original on 20 October 2016.
3. "Ittihad Tanger". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
4. "Ittihad Riadhi de Tanger: Squad; 2024/2025". soccerway. Retrieved 16 October 2024.
5. "الإطار الوطني هلال الطير مدربا لاتــحــاد طــنــجــة" [The national manager, Hilal Ettair, coach of Ittihad Tanger]. 21 January 2023.
6. "بـــلاغ" [announcement]. 17 July 2023.
7. "Botola: Mohamed Cherkaoui, un nouveau président au chevet de l'R Tanger" [Botola: Mohamed Cherkaoui, a new president at the bedside of IR Tanger]. sport.le360.ma. 16 January 2023.
8. "لائحة المكتب المديري لفريق اتحاد طنجة لكرة القدم ولجانه" [Regulations of the managerial office of the Ittihad Tanger Football Association team and its committees]. Ittihad Riadi De Tanger. 19 May 2023.
9. "فريق اتحاد طنجة يوقع اتفاقية شراكة وتعاون مع فريق شباب بلوزداد الجزائري" [Ittihad Tangiers signs a partnership and cooperation agreement with the Algerian club Chaba Belouizdad] (in Arabic). tanjaelkobra.com. 22 January 2017. Retrieved 24 August 2022.
10. "وفد من فريق اتحاد طنجة يزور مدينة برشلونة لتوقيع اتفاقية شراكة مع نادي اسبانيول" [A delegation from Ittihad Tanger visits Barcelona to sign a partnership agreement with Espanyol] (in Arabic). IR Tanger. 20 September 2018. Archived from the original on 28 September 2018. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
11. "El C.D. Leganés firma un acuerdo de colaboración con el Ittihad de Tanger" [El C.D. Leganés firma un acuerdo de colaboración con el Ittihad de Tanger] (in Spanish). CD Leganés. 2 May 2019. Retrieved 18 August 2022.

External links

• IR Tanger on Facebook
• Media related to IR Tanger at Wikimedia Commons