Wydad Casablanca

Football club infobox
clubname = Wydad Casablanca


fullname = Wydad Athletic Club
nickname = "Les Rouges" (Reds)
founded = 1937
ground = Stade Mohamed V,
Casablanca, Morocco
capacity = 55,000 [ [http://www.wydad.com/infrastructures.php www.wydad.com] ]
chairman = Abdelillah Akram
manager = flagicon|MAR Badou Zaki
league = GNF 1
pattern_la1=|pattern_b1=|pattern_ra1=
leftarm1=FF0000|body1=FF0000|rightarm1=FF0000|shorts1=FF0000|socks1=FF0000
pattern_la2=|pattern_b2=|pattern_ra2=
leftarm2=FFFFFF|body2=FFFFFF|rightarm2=FFFFFF|shorts2=ffffff|socks2=FFFFFF

Wydad Athletic Club (WAC) ( _ar. نادي الوداد الرياضي) is a Moroccan athletics club based in Casablanca, Morocco, best known for its football team.

History

The swimming section was the first section of the "Wydad Athletic Club" "WAC" to be created and this was on May 8, 1937 . The members of the first management committee of Wydad were Haj Mohamed Benjelloun (President), Maitre Mohamed Zarouk, Mohamed Ben Lahsan, Haj Mohamed Ben Mohamed Ben Lahsan Benjelloun, Ralph Botbol and Charles Benchetrit.

Other sections were created for the club as time went by, like the tennis in 1938 and football in 1939, section which Haj Tounsi alias Père Jégo created, to reach today 14 sections including Basketball, Handball, Boxing, Wresling, Cycling, Badminton, Track and field, Waterpolo, Hockey...

Several versions circulate according to the origin of the naming of the club. In Arabic, Wydad means Love. Each historian brings his explanation. But that brought back by Ahmed Lahrizi in his book on "Wydad volume 1", is the most widespread and the most plausible. According to the book, during the frequent meetings which intervened before the creation of the club, one of the founder members arrived late, the reason was that he watched the latest film of the actress and Egyptian singer legend Oum Kaltoum, whose title is "Wydad". Thus came the idea to the founders to give the name to the club.

Honours

*Moroccan League (16)
**Champion : 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1954, 1957, 1966, 1969, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1986, 1990, 1991, 1993, 2006
**Runner-up : 1958, 1959, 1972, 1980, 1982, 1994, 1997, 2000, 2002

*Moroccan Cup (9)
**Winner : 1970, 1978, 1979, 1981, 1989, 1994, 1997, 1998, 2001
**Runner-up : 1957, 1958, 1961, 1964, 2003, 2004

*CAF Champions League (1)
**Winner : 1992

*CAF Cup (1)
**Runner-up : 1999

*CAF Cup Winners' Cup (1)
**Winner : 2002

*CAF Super Cup
**Runner-up : 1992, 2002

*Afro-Asian Club Championship (1)
**Winner : 1994

*Arab Champions League (1)
**Winner : 1989

*Arab Super Cup (1)
**Winner : 1990

*Mohamed V Cup (1)
**Winner : 1979

*North African Championship (3)
**Winner : 1948, 1949, 1950

*North African Cup (1)
**Winner : 1949

Performance in CAF competitions

*CAF Champions League:::2007 - Second Round

* African Cup of Champions Clubs: 5 appearances::1987: Second Round::1991: Quarter-Final::1992: Champion::1993: Second Round::1994: Second Round

*CAF Confederation Cup: 2 appearances::2004 - Intermediate Round::2007 - Intermediate Round

*CAF Cup: 3 appearances::1999 - "Finalist"::2000 - Second Round::2001 - Quarter-Final

*CAF Cup Winners' Cup: 3 appearances::1998 - Semi-Final::2002 - Champion::2003 - Semi-Final

Current squad

Former notable players

*Aziz Bouderbala
*Badou Zaki
*Moussa N'daw
*Rachid Daoudi
*Noureddine Naybet
*Lahcen Abrami

Sport equipment

* Adidas

References

External links

* [http://www.wydadnews.com/ Up to date news of Wydad]
* [http://www.wydad.com/ Popular Wydad website]
* [http://www.forumswydad.com/ Popular Wydad discussion forum]
* [http://www.frimija.com/ Pictures & Videos of Wydadi fans]
*/fr icon [http://www.wydad.info/ Fansite]
* [http://www.fanatical.hu/category/wydad/ Ultras Wydad - Videoblog]
* [http://www.alwydad.com/ Unofficial Wydad website]
* [http://moroccoboard.com/ The Moroccan American Community events board]