IR_Tanger
IR Tanger
Football club based in Tangier, Morocco
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]
 | This article may need to be rewritten to comply with Wikipedia's quality standards. (October 2022) |
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| Full name | Ittihad Riadi de Tanger الاتحاد الرياضي لطنجة | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nickname(s) | arousat achamal' (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 | Omar Najhi | |||
| League | Botola | |||
| 2022–23 | 15th of 16 | |||
| Website | Club website | |||
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 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.
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.
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 | 2024 | 25 | 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 | 23 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 20 | 18 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 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 | 32 | 11 | 12 | 9 | 33 | 28 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 4 | 5 | |
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 | 
|
None | 
|
| 2016–2017 |
ONDA & UNE & APM Terminals | |||
| 2017–2018 | 
|
Tanger-Med & Valencia (juice) & RCI Finance Maroc | ||
| 2018–2019 | Gloria |
|
Valencia (juice) & STG Telecom & RCI Finance Maroc | |
| 2019–2020 | STG Telecom & RCI Finance Maroc | None | ||
| 2020–2021 | Experience Majorel | 
| ||
| 2021–2022 | Biougnach | |||
| 2022–2023 | None |
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 45,000 (and a potential for a maximum of 75,000 seats).
| Stadium | Period |
|---|---|
| Stade de Marchan | 1983–2011 |
| Ibn Batouta Stadium | 2012–present |
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 | 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 | Round of 16 |
| 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 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
Current squad
- As of 2 January 2024[4]
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
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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.
Former players
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 |
Managers
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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 |
Presidents
- Abdeslam Arbaine
- Hassan Bouhrize
- Abdelhak Bakhat (2009)
- Adil Defouf (–2012)
- Abdelhamid Aberchane (2013–21)
- Mohamed Ahagan (2021–22)
- Mohammed Cherkaoui (2023–)
CR Belouizdad (2017)[9]
RCD Espanyol (2018)[10]- CD Leganés (2019)[11]
- "Stade Ibn Batouta (Grand Stade de Tanger)". StadiumDB.com. Retrieved 18 August 2022.
- "The blue northern club of Tangiers". Archived from the original on 20 October 2016.
- "Ittihad Tanger". www.goalzz.com. Retrieved 2023-04-13.
- "The Team is complete –قائمة الفريق للموسم الكروي 2023/24" [Team list for the 2023/24 football season]. clubirt. Retrieved 16 September 2023.
- "الإطار الوطني هلال الطير مدربا لاتــحــاد طــنــجــة" [The national manager, Hilal Ettair, coach of Ittihad Tanger]. 21 January 2023.
- "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.
- "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.
- "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.
- "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.
- "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.
