IR Tanger

Ittihad Riadi Tanger (; ), 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.

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 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 failed 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.

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.

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

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).

Season results

League and cup

African competitions

Arab competition

;Notes
* PR: Preliminary round
* 1R: First round
* PO: Play-off round

Honours

Players

Current squad

Reserve team and Youth Academy

Out on loan

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
* Badreddine Benachour
* 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

Source:

Managers

* Jorvan Vieira (1984–86)
* Mohamed Baltham (1986–87)
* Abdelkhalek Louzani (1987–88)
* Bob Schneider (1988–89)
* Mário Ribeiro Nunes (1989–91)
* Abderrahim El Houazer (1991)
* Abdellah Hammouni (1993–94)
* Jorvan Vieira (1993–94)
* Abdelghani Bennaciri (1994–95)
* 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

Source:

Presidents

*Abdessalam Aghziel (1983–84)
*Amine Assoufi
*Abdeslam Arbaine
*Hassan Bouhrize
*Mohammed Zbakh
*Mohamed Larbi Bouras (2002–04)
*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)
* RCD Espanyol (2018)
* CD Leganés (2019)

See also

* UD España
* EHA Tánger

References

External links

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Football clubs in Morocco
Sport in Tangier
1983 establishments in Morocco
Sports clubs and teams in Morocco
Association football clubs established in 1983
Organizations based in Tangier