CAF 2022: Moroccan Teams Dominate African Football

Rabat – Wydad AC and RS Berkane’s recent continental titles have further cemented Moroccan dominance over Africa’s football scene.

On a magical night, Wydad AC last week claimed the CAF Champions League title after defeating Egypt’s Al Ahly with a 2-0 victory.

With this recent victory, the Casablanca-based club added its third title of Africa’s top club competition to its trophy closet, emerging as one of Morocco’s most crowned clubs.

Meanwhile, RS Berkane triumphed on May 20 over South Africa’s Orlando Pirates in Nigeria, earning their second CAF Confederation Cup title. The Moroccan team had won 5-4 on penalties.

Over the past few years, Moroccan football teams have fared well in the African football scene, ending years of bad runs in the continental competitions.

In their quest to establish dominance over Africa’s top-tier tournaments, Moroccan clubs knocked out elite clubs including Algeria’s JS Kabylie, Egypt’s Al Ahly, and South Africa’s Orlando Pirates.

In 2017, Wydad AC broke the spell of Moroccan teams’ bad luck in the CAF Champions League, becoming the first Moroccan club to win the prestigious title since 1999.

Two years later, Wydad AC would go on to reach the CAF Champions League final against Tunisia’s Esperance de Tunis (EST). This match was especially dubious, as it sparked a massive controversy between Wydad AC and the organizers of CAF and EST.

Wydad lost the match 1-0. The loss, however, was considered unjustified and full of controversy by Moroccan fans.

During the game, Wydad called for the use of the video assistant referee (VAR), which was rejected by the match official. Later, after an hour of talks between the referee and Wydad players, CAF officials decided to end the match 30 minutes before its official end time.

Furthermore, CAF officials awarded the game to EST, which sparked outrage from Wydad and its fans.

The Moroccan team then pleaded to the CAF’s Board of Appeals, which ruled in favor of EST. Overall, this entire controversy sparked accusations of corruption within the CAF institution, which would damage their credibility among Moroccans in the future.

In addition to Wydad AC, Casablanca’s other team Raja CA is also one of Morocco’s most known football teams. The Casablanca-based club has won several trophies, the latest of which is the 2021 CAF Confederation Cup.

Raja defeated Algeria’s JS Kabylie 2-1 last year in Benin, which added another step towards Moroccan football dominance over its other counterparts on the continent.

Moreover, thanks to their achievements this year, Wydad AC and RS Berkane will compete for the first African Super Cup to ever feature two Moroccan clubs.

In order for a team to qualify for the CAF Super Cup, it must win either the Championship League title or the Confederation Cup title.

Two teams from the same country have never competed against one another in the African Super Cup before, which makes this year’s super cup a historical first. This only further adds to Morocco’s growing dominance over the African football scene.

Morocco’s Botola Pro

Such amazing feats didn’t come out of the blue, as the Moroccan top football league, Botola Pro, has regularly been ranked as one of the best leagues in the African scene in recent years.

The Botola Pro competition features 16 teams, with Raja and Wydad being the most well-known clubs in the competition, with several national and continental titles under their name.

Morocco’s Botola Pro football league was ranked as 2019’s best African championship by the International Federation of Football History and Statistics (IFFHS). With the nomination, the Moroccan football league dethroned Tunisia, which had held the title over the previous five years.

According to the CAF ranking system, which evaluates the performance of clubs from various African leagues, Morocco’s Botola Pro is Africa’s greatest football league in 2022. The Moroccan football league currently has more teams that have won continental titles in the 2021/2022 CAF season than any other African league.

Wydad emphasized Morocco’s football dominance in Africa by winning its third continental title, and stripping its Egyptian rival of its tenth CAF title. This isn’t the first time that a Moroccan team has won the CAF Champions League title. Raja and AS FAR have also secured the CAF Champions League trophy in the past.