IR Tanger
اتحاد طنجة

Full name	Ittihad Riadi de Tanger الاتحاد الرياضي لطنجة
Nickname(s)	Boughaz's Knight (team) Hercules (supporters)
Short name	IRT
Founded	1936 (1936) as Unión Deportiva España de Tánger officially: 1944 (1944)
Ground	Ibn Batouta Stadium
Capacity	65,000[1]
Chairman	Mohammed Cherkaoui
Manager	Omar Najhi
League	Botola
2022–23	14th of 16
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

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]

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.

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
2022–2023			None

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 45,000 (and a potential for a maximum of 75,000 seats).

Ibn Batouta Stadium

Season results

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

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

Players

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.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  ALG Gaya Merbah 2 DF  MAR Youssef Chaina 4 DF  MAR Mohamed Saoud 6 MF  MAR Nouaman Aarab (vice-captain) 7 FW  MAR Nabil Jaadi 8 MF  MAR Faouzi Abdelmottalib 9 FW  MAR Ismail Khafi 10 MF  MAR Reda Jaadi (captain) 11 FW  MAR Abdellatif Akhrif 12 GK  MAR Imad Askar 13 DF  MAR Oussama Al Aiz 14 MF  MAR Mohamed Said Bouksyr 15 MF  MAR Ayoub Jarfi 16 MF  MAR Ahmed Chentouf (3rd-captain) 17 MF  MAR Abdelhamid Maâli

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  MAR Hamza El Wasti 19 FW  MAR Jawad Ghabra 20 FW  MAR Hassan Zraibi 21 MF  MAR Mahmoud El Kayssoumi 22 DF  MAR Zakaria Kiani 23 DF  MAR Anass Lamrabat 28 FW  ESP Alexis Sánchez Pérez 29 DF  SEN El Hadji Youssoupha Konaté 30 FW  MAR Ali El Harrak 31 DF  ALG Walid Bencherifa 37 GK  MAR Youssef Laghzal 70 MF  MAR Hamza Hassani 72 GK  MAR Badreddine Benachour 80 MF  SEN Elhadj Madicke Kane 93 FW  MAR Zouhair El Ouassli

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 25 DF  MAR Mohammed El Mehidi 26 MF  MAR Salah Cheffani

No. Pos. Nation Player 34 MF  MAR Yassine El Guartit

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]

Management

Partnerships

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

See also

• UD España
• EHA Tánger

References

External links

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