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It has been a long season, and there are still a few more weeks before the 2025/2026 Botola finally comes to an end.
Morocco’s participation and hosting of football events such as CHAN, AFCON and FIFA Arab Cup, with the Atlas Lions being the crowned champions of all three, has had its effect on the Moroccan football league that was a victim of endless intermissions.
Yet, despite that, Botola hasn’t lost any of its charm for those faithful followers who, despite all the criticism and denigration the league receives from many Moroccan football fans, see other merits in what’s arguably Africa’s best football league.
Up for grabs
Unlike other leagues in the region, such as Egypt and Tunisia, where Al Ahly and Esperance de Tunis largely dominate, with Zamalek and Etoile du Sahel breaking that hegemony from time to time, the Botola title is up for grabs whenever one of the traditional or even non-traditional contenders is in good shape.
As a result, and as was demonstrated in the last 10 years, the crowned champion at the end of the season could be a record title-holder such as Wydad Athletic Club (WAC), the two runners-up Raja Athletic Club (RCA) and AS FAR, or a first-time winner like Fath Union Sport (FUS), Ittihad Tanger (IRT) or Renaissance Sportive de Berkane (RSB).
Botola trophy has been a fleeting title, with no team being able to win two championships in a row since 2003, with the exception of WAC in 2021 and 2022.
Apart from the 2024/2025 season that saw RSB break away from the flock to claim the title in the 25th round, another striking feature of Botola is the gripping suspense that we see in each season, with two contenders battling until the very last before one of them is declared champion.
This was the case with Wydad claiming the championship in the 2021/2022 season after a tight race with its rival RCA, AS FAR’s extra-time title-winning goal in the last game of the 2022/2023 season after a long head-to-head with WAC, and AS FAR going toe-to-toe with RCA the following season before the latter claimed the title in the last round. This season, the title race is even tighter.
Battle of the ages
Instead of two teams battling it out, this season has seen 5 teams involved in a fierce struggle to clinch the Botola trophy, namely: AS FAR, RCA, WAC, RSB and Maghreb de Fès (MAS).
Throughout the tournament, the five teams swapped seats in the league’s top five places, with none of them managing to break away from the rest.
While RSB now sits at the very top with AS FAR and MAS closely behind, things are very likely to change by the time the games of the 24th round are over. Come the 30th round, the team that now sits in 5th place might very well be the one that lifts the trophy.
For any Moroccans, both in Morocco or across the diaspora, who love to watch Botola despite the allure of more established leagues in nearby Europe or elsewhere, this year’s gripping suspense only reinforces a long-held belief: : Botola deserves greater attention and appreciation because it truly is an exciting league to watch.
