Wydad vs Raja: The Full History of the Casablanca Derby

On 10 February 1957, Wydad and Raja met for the first time at the Stade Philip in Casablanca. Raja won 1-0. Sixty-eight years on, the Casablanca derby remains the most-watched fixture in Moroccan football and one of the most intense rivalries in African football. Two clubs born in the same city, sharing the same stadium, never having met outside the top division, and capable of pulling the entire Maârif neighbourhood into the same orbit every time they cross paths. This is the full story of that rivalry — its numbers, its founding moments, and what it means today.

Two Clubs, Two Identities

Wydad Athletic Club was founded in 1937. Raja Club Athletic followed twelve years later, in 1949, the work of a group of trade-union activists and intellectuals who wanted a club rooted in the working class. That difference in origin shaped the sociology of the derby for decades. Wydad, backed in its time by King Mohammed V and later by King Mohammed VI, built an institutional image, closer to the Casablanca middle and upper classes. Raja, nicknamed "the People's Club", drew its popularity from a working-class base and an ultra culture famous for visual invention and sheer volume.

Those lines have blurred over time. Supporters on both sides now come from every social layer in Morocco, and the symbolic markers have become independent of any single class identity. Wydad's red and white evoke the Moroccan monarchy. Raja's green and white, according to supporters, stand for hope and renewal. Every derby stages that dialogue of colours at the Stade Mohammed V — the ground both clubs have shared for decades, with an official capacity of 47,000 and crowds beyond 100,000 on historic derby nights.

The Moments That Built the Rivalry

A handful of matches anchor the collective memory of the derby and still fuel conversation in Casablanca cafés.

1957 — The first meeting. Raja 1-0 Wydad at the Stade Philip. The opening chapter of a series that has not been broken since.

1978 — Raja walk off. During the closing ten minutes of a heated derby, Raja's players left the pitch after a contested penalty paired with a red card to their goalkeeper. Captain Mohamed Fakhir ordered the withdrawal. Wydad converted a penalty against an empty pitch and the match was recorded as a 1-0 win.

1996 — The 5-1. In the Throne Cup quarter-final, Raja routed Wydad 5-1. It remains the largest scoreline ever produced between the two clubs.

2001 — The 100th derby and the Belkhouja tragedy. On 29 September, in the Throne Cup semi-final, the 100th derby was overshadowed by the on-pitch death of Wydad player Youssef Belkhouja, who suffered a heart attack.

2006 — The title at 90+6. On 24 May, Wydad and Raja met with the Botola title hanging on the result. Raja led through an Abdellatif Jrindou penalty — enough to crown them champions. In the 96th minute, Hicham Louissi unleashed a long-range strike that found the net. Wydad rescued the draw and with it their 16th national title, thirteen years after the previous one.

2019 — First derby outside Morocco. In November, in the second round of the Arab Club Championship, the two rivals met for the first time outside a Moroccan competition. The first leg ended 1-1, with Wydad progressing on the away-goals rule.

The Head-to-Head Picture

Across statistical databases, the all-time balance stays remarkably tight, with Raja holding a small edge in head-to-head wins and Wydad ahead on overall trophies.

Wydad is the most decorated club in Morocco, with the trophy count boosted in 2012 when FIFA accepted the club's request to recognise five titles won in the regional championship during French colonial rule, before the foundation of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation in 1956. The Wydad Botola count moved from 12 to 17, and the club remains the only one in the kingdom whose pre-1956 titles are formally recognised by FIFA. Raja won their first national title in 1988 but have since strung together multiple championships and hold the upper hand on direct head-to-head meetings in the league.

The Derby in the 2025-26 Season

The 2025-26 calendar produced its first leg on Matchday 5. On 29 October 2025, at the Stade Mohammed V, Wydad and Raja drew 0-0. A closed match, few clear chances, two solid defences — an old-school derby in a season that already promised to stretch out. At that point Raja sat second, a single point ahead of their rivals.

The return leg was scheduled in the LNFP's July 2025 release for Matchday 20, now expected around 9 May 2026 at the Stade Mohammed V. This time, Raja host. The sporting context has shifted underneath: as of 29 April 2026, Wydad share top spot with AS FAR and Maghreb of Fes on 31 points. Raja sit one behind on 30, with the best defence in the league — four goals conceded across fifteen matches. In those conditions, the return derby can directly settle who lifts the title.

Why This Derby Matters

Wydad – Raja is not just a football match. It is a social event that occupies the media, the streets and the social networks of Casablanca for days. Curva Sud ultras — Raja's main supporter group — prepare their tifos over weeks. The Winners of Wydad, founded in 2005, sit among the most influential ultra groups in North Africa. Songs composed for the derby often leave the stadium and become popular anthems, occasionally with political weight. Moroccan football culture has been built largely around this rivalry, and the international circulation of the fixture — relayed by foreign broadcasters and outlets such as Goal.com — has turned it into one of the most-watched derbies on the African continent.

For bettors, the derby remains one of the trickiest matches of the season to read. The emotional load alters the usual output of both clubs. Across the last twenty-four meetings in all competitions, eleven ended in a draw — a much higher ratio than the league average. Bookmakers fold this systematically into their pricing, and 1xBet Maroc reflects it across its dedicated derby markets — match winner, double chance, total goals, and the perennially in-demand both-teams-to-score line.