Raja vs Wydad: 4 Classic Clashes in the Casablanca Derby

The Casablanca Derby is part of 90min's 50 Biggest Derbies in the World Series

142 matches. 88 positive results. 64 draws. 254 goals. The Casablanca derby has a long tradition in the Mohammed V Stadium, and a fiery one too. 

The fans? Passionate. The players? Going all-out. The result? Chaos. Here are some of the best Casablanca derbies in the last 60+ years. 

Raja 0-0 Wydad; 1966

As far as we can tell, this was a dreadful match – but it happened because of some of the most magnificent fan shithousing possible, so it gets a pass. 

What fan shenanigans were those? At the end of the season, Raja needed a win in the derby to seal the title, while a draw would've done it for their rivals. That led to a situation where Wydad fans, with their team trailing 2-1, invaded the pitch en masse to force an abandonment. The game was replayed, neither team scored second time around, and Wydad won the title. It took another 20+ years for Raja to break their duck. 

Oh yeah, and remember all the draws mentioned in the profile of this derby? Yeah? This match was the second of a run of five consecutive 0-0 stalemates. 

Raja 1(11)-1(12) Wydad; 2003

17 times, these two have won the Moroccan Throne Cup between them – nine for Wydad and the other eight for Raja. Another 11 losing final appearances between them. Know how often they've faced each other in the final? 

Yeah, never. 

If it's cup drama we're looking for then, we have to go a little earlier in the competition. Fortunately, we've got six semi-finals to look back on, including an absolute thriller (another draw!) in 2003 that ended with 23 shootout penalties being scored. 23! That's loads! And if you can find a single clip of it online, you're doing a better job than us. Or maybe you speak Arabic, that might help with the keywords. 

Raja 1-1 Wydad; 2006

FINE!!!! IT'S ANOTHER DRAW!!! THIS FIXTURE IS ALL ABOUT DRAWS!!!!!!

This draw though? Woof. Megawoof. Raja – once again – needed a win to snatch the title from their stadium-mates. Wydad – once again – went behind; through an Abdellatif Jrindou penalty. 

No pitch invasion this time though. In what a staggeringly grainy (this was 2006! We had Twitter! Facebook! YouTube! LiveJournal was seven years old! How was the video quality so bad!) clip appears to show was the 95th minute, but could easily have been the 94th because honestly nobody's eyes are that good, defender Hicham Louissi let the ball run across him and absolutely thumped one into the top corner from 25-30 yards out to snatch a point – and the title – for Wydad. 

Raja 4-4 Wydad; 2019

For clubs who have shared five CAF Champions Leagues and a handful of other continental/regional honours, it's a little surprising that it took until November 2019 – 66 years after the first Casablanca derby – for Raja and Wydad to meet outside of domestic competition. 

Raja were nominally the home side for the first leg, playing out a 1-1 draw, but it was three weeks later when the teams returned to the Mohammed V Stadium that things really kicked off. 

Wydad went into half time leading 1-0 (a penalty, lovely Panenka) before Mohsine Moutaouali equalised shortly after the restart (another penalty, banged top left). The 'visitors' fell apart shortly after though, and trailed 4-1 – and 5-2 on aggregate – with under 20 minutes left, the fourth goal in particular a defensive shambles.

However. A neat finish made it 4-2 before Moutaouali scored his second penalty of the game (Panenka number two of the game, these men have no respect) in the 88th minute to set up a thrilling climax – 'away' goals meaning that one more strike would put them through. 

75 seconds were left in stoppage time when a free kick right on the byline was chipped into the box, onto the head of Wydad striker Ben Malango. He made no mistake, players sprinted in every direction to celebrate, and the comeback was complete. Even if '''''''technically''''''' yes, it was another draw. 

For more from Chris Deeley, follow him on Twitter at @ThatChris1209!