# Raja CA Under-21s and Academy

Raja CA Under-21s and Academy are the youth teams of Raja CA. The U21 team (or reserve team) mainly consists of Under-21 players and some senior players that occasionally join them, for instance when they are recovering from injury. The Academy refers to the other development teams below under-21, that complete Raja's youth system: Juniors "A" and "B"; Cadets "A", "B" and ''C''; Minimes "A", "B" and "C".
Raja CA is considered to have the best football academy in Morocco, the first team has historically relied heavily on academy players and its youth teams are generally very competitive in the different leagues that they compete in at the regional, inter-regional and national levels. It has produced many successful players such as Houmane Jarir, Saïd Ghandi, Petchou, Abdelmajid Dolmy, Mustapha El Haddaoui, Redouane Hajry, Mustapha Khalif, Mustapha Moustawdae, Salaheddine Bassir, Omar Nejjary, Abdelilah Fahmi, Talal El Karkouri, Marouane Zemmama, Amin Erbati, Hicham Aboucherouane, Mouhcine Iajour, Mohsine Moutaouali, Abdelilah Hafidi, Badr Benoun and Soufiane Rahimi, among many others.
The youth teams play their home games at Oasis Sports Complex or at the Raja CA Academy. Up until 2011, the U-21 team sometimes played the Derby against Wydad AC in Stade Mohammed-V before the first team Derby kick-off.

## Academy

Raja's academy in the Oasis Sports Complex was one of the first football centres to comply with international standards in Africa, and the first to adopt the "sport-study" system that combine both football and education in Morocco. In 2021, it was chosen by the technical direction of the Royal Moroccan Football Federation as the best player development center.
The club's development strategies have long been run by Abdelkader Jalal [fr], a former Raja player and its main head of player development between 1950 and 1989, retiring only after an accident that occurred in 23 May and cost him his left hand. After the opening of the development centre in 1999, the management was given to experienced coaches who were also former Raja players like Fathi Jamal, Mhamed Fakhir and Mohamed Madih. Raja was the first Moroccan club to offer to its young players a sporting and educational program that was provided by the OFPPT [fr]. The first generation consisted of 26 selected players, aged between 16 and 17 with the exception of goalscorer Tarik Bendamou and the goalkeeper Yassine El Had who are respectively 13 and 14 years old. In general, the club relies on its former players to coach youth teams to conserve the club's football style.
| CL titles | Academy-graduates winners |
| 1989 | Mustapha Khalif, Abderrahim Hamraoui, Mustapha Moustawdae, Abdeljalil Bouchari, Tijani El Maâtaoui, Mustapha El Gherchi Hassan Mouahid, Khalid Moussalek, Mustapha Soueib, Abdelghani Zerraf, Mohamed Madih, Abdelhak Souadi, Rachid Jebrane (13) |
| 1997 | Abdelilah Fahmi, Omar Nejjary, Mustapha Khalif, Mustapha Moustawdae, Redouane El Haimer, Rimy Zitouni Hafid Abdessadek, Talal El Karkouri (8) |
| 1999 | Omar Nejjary, Mustapha Khalif, Mustapha Moustawdae, Hamid Nater, Zakaria Aboub, Redouane El Haimer, Talal El Karkouri Zekmous, Mohamed Armoumen, Nabil Mesloub, Hicham Misbah, Adil Serraj, Hafid Abdessadek, Mohamed Kharbouch (14) |
In September 2022, Raja CA Academy finally opened its doors after a year delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition to the first team facilities, it houses the club's academy structure that offers to its young footballers, in association with the Oasis Complex, accommodation, education and a high-level football development. The facilities were built for the first team and the youth teams competing in their respective championships (U17, U19, U21). The younger teams are trained in Oasis. The academy is equipped with a natural grass pitch, a new generation synthetic turf and four mini-football. The sports center has also a gym, a rehabilitation room, a medical center and a restaurant.
Raja CA's youth teams are generally dominant in their national championships like in the 2014–15 season, when both U17 and U19 teams won th national league. Since 2019, the U21 team no longer compete with their peers since their promotion to senior football at the D5 Championship. They finished second twice in a row, in 2019-20 and 2020–21 and came close to promotion to D4 under the management of Bouchaib El Moubarki.
In November 2023, club's president Mohamed Boudrika stated that the Academy, apart from the first teams, host twelve football teams, three futsal teams and three women teams.

## U-21s team

Due to the high number of players in the Academy, each age category have two or three teams (for example: Juniors A, Juniors B...) that compete in regional or inter-regional competitions, in addition to the main teams that respectively play in the U-15, U-17 and U-19 national leagues. After their promotion to senior football in 2019, the U-21 category has one single team that directly give players to the first team.

### Current squad

    As of 28 September 2023
Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules; some limited exceptions apply. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | GK | MAR | Yassine Zoubir |
| — | GK | MAR | Hatim Siouah |
| — | GK | MAR | Nabil Douah |
| — | GK | MAR | Adam Alami |
| — | DF | MAR | Mehdi Mchakhchekh (Vice-Captain) |
| — | DF | MAR | Saad Chamach |
| — | DF | SEN | Ibrahima |
| — | DF | MAR | Abdellah Azrour |
| — | DF | MAR | Mohamed Youssef Gaidi |
| — | DF | MAR | Karim Achqar |
| — | DF | MAR | Adham Al Khalfi (Captain) |
| — | MF | MAR | Yassine Oumast |
| — | MF | MAR | Anouar Aalam |
| — | MF | MAR | Saad Essamouani |
| No. | Pos. | Nation | Player |
| — | MF | GUI | Ahmadou Camara |
| — | MF | MAR | Brahim Bensaber |
| — | MF | MAR | Youness Barti |
| — | MF | MAR | Ziad Nejjary |
| — | FW | MAR | Houssam Djellal |
| — | FW | MAR | Akram El Khouidssi |
| — | FW | MAR | Yasser Zahli |
| — | FW | MLI | Idrissa |
| — | FW | MAR | Hamza Moustawdae |
| — | FW | MAR | Amine Essabah |
| — | FW | MAR | Youssef Hafidi |
| — | FW | MAR | Mansour Nachet |
| — | FW | MAR | Reda Smaili |

### Season by season

On 19 May 2019, Raja played the U-21 national league play-offs final and gained promotion for the first time to a senior league, which is Amateurs 3 (North West Group), the fifth level of Moroccan football, despite losing to Kawkab Marrakech on penalties after a 0–0 draw.
| Season | Competition | Position | Pts | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD |
| 2019–20 | Amateurs 3 (North West) [fr] | 2 | 54 | 30 | 16 | 6 | 8 | 47 | 34 | +13 |
| 2020–21 | Amateurs 3 (North West) | 2 | 55 | 30 | 17 | 4 | 9 | 43 | 29 | +14 |
| 2021–22 | Amateurs 3 (North West) | 3 | 55 | 30 | 16 | 7 | 7 | 58 | 27 | +31 |
| 2022–23 | Amateurs 3 (North West) | 2 | 58 | 30 | 17 | 7 | 6 | 61 | 24 | +37 |
| 2023–24 | Amateurs 3 (North West) | 5 | 43 | 30 | 12 | 7 | 11 | 37 | 37 | +0 |

### Manager history

| Hamid Bahij [fr] (1976–1978) Hamid Bahij [fr] (1982–1984) Mhamed Fakhir (1986–1988) Abdelkader Jalal [fr] (1988–1989) Mhamed Fakhir (1989–1992) Mohamed Nejmi (1998–2003) Said Seddiki (2007–2010) | Hilal Et–tair (2010–2012) Mohamed Bekkari (2012–2014) Mohamed Oustad (2014–2015) Omar Nejjary (2015) Redouane Hajry (2015–2017) Mohamed Oustad (2017–2018) Abdelilah Fahmi (2018–2019) | Bouchaib El Moubarki (2019–2022) Nabil Mesloub [fr] (2022–2023) Rachid Soulaimani (2023–2024) Jean-Marc Nobilo (2024–) |

## Management team

    As of 5 October 2024
| Sporting director | Mohamed Madih |
| Technical director | Hicham Aboucherouane |
| Head of Player Development | Jean-Marc Nobilo |
| Under-21s head coach | Jean-Marc Nobilo |
| Under-18s head coach | Rachid Soulaimani |
| Under-17s head coach | Mohamed Armoumen |
| Under-16s head coach | Hamid Nater |
| Under-15s head coach | Mustapha Khalif |
| Under-14s head coach | Adil Bekkari |
| Under-13s head coach | Mustapha Moustawdae |

## International youth graduates

This is a list of former Raja CA youth graduates who have gone on to represent their country at full senior international level.
    As of 13 October 2023
| Player | Years played in the Academy | Years played for first team | National team | Years played for national team | Notes |
| Mohamed Choukri Roudani | 1950–1951 | 1951–1964 | Morocco | 1957–1960 | He was part of Morocco's first national team at the 1957 Arab Games |
| Moussa Hanoun [fr] | 1951–1953 | 1953–1963 1964–1966 | Morocco | 1963–1964 | |
| Hamid Bahij [fr] | 1951–1954 | 1954–1964 1966–1967 | Morocco | 1959–1966 | Winner of 1961 Arab Games and played the 1964 Olympics |
| Mohamed Bhaïja [fr] | 1952–1956 | 1956–1971 | Morocco | 1960–1966 | |
| Mustapha Fahim Milazzo | 1954–1956 | 1956–1967 | Morocco | 1959–1964 | |
| Ali Bendayan Aliouate | 1954–1962 | 1962–1975 | Morocco | 1963–1967 | |
| Houmane Jarir | 1955–1962 | 1962–1977 | Morocco | 1966–1970 | He scored Morocco's first-ever World Cup goal |
| Saïd Ghandi | 1955–1964 | 1964–1979 | Morocco | 1966–1974 | |
| Abdallah Zhar [fr] | 1953–1956 | 1965–1966 | Morocco | 1960–1966 | |
| Mohamed Abdelalim Bénini | 1959–1965 | 1965–1977 | Morocco | 1965–1966 | |
| Mohamed Maaroufi | 1960–1965 | 1965–1966 | Morocco | 1967–1974 | |
| Mustapha Choukri | 1956–1966 | 1966–1975 | Morocco | 1970–1979 | |
| Abdelhak Fethi | 1965–1971 | 1971–1986 | Morocco | 1977–1980 | |
| Abdelmajid Hadry | 1966–1971 | 1971–1979 | Morocco | 1972–1973 | |
| Abdelmajid Dolmy | 1969–1974 | 1971–1987 1990–1991 | Morocco | 1971–1988 | Winner of 1976 AFCON and one of Morocco's most-capped players |
| Jawad El Andaloussi | 1965–1972 | 1972–1977 1983–1985 | Morocco | 1976–1981 | Winner of 1976 AFCON |
| Abdellatif Beggar [fr] | 1965–1973 | 1974–1978 1979–1983 1986–1987 | Morocco | 1979–1981 | |
| Najib Mokhles | 1971–1975 | 1975–1982 | Morocco | 1976–1979 | |
| Abdelhak Souadi [fr] | 1970–1977 | 1977–1986 | Morocco | 1983–1988 | Winner of 1983 Mediterranean Games and runner-up of 1985 Arab Games |
| Hassan Mouahid | 1973–1978 | 1978–1990 | Morocco | 1986–1988 | |
| Mustapha El Haddaoui | 1973–1979 | 1979–1985 | Morocco | 1982–1994 | Winner of 1983 Mediterranean Games and runner-up of 1985 Arab Games |
| Mohamed Nejmi | 1973–1974 | 1979–1989 | Morocco | 1981–1983 | |
| Aziz Kharbouch | 1972–1979 | 1979–1980 1983–1988 | Morocco | 1987–1988 | |
| Abderrahim Hamraoui [fr] | 1973–1982 | 1982–1993 | Morocco | 1986–1988 | |
| Redouane Hajry | 1975–1985 | 1985–1987 | Morocco | 1993–1995 | |
| Tijani El Maataoui | 1980–1985 | 1985–1993 | Morocco | 1988–1993 | |
| Mustapha Khalif | 1985–1988 | 1988–2000 | Morocco | 1993–1998 | |
| Mustapha Moustawdae | 1987–1989 | 1988–1999 | Morocco | 1994–1998 | |
| Salaheddine Bassir | 1983–1991 | 1991–1997 | Morocco | 1994–2002 | Morocco's all-time second top goalscorer. |
| Omar Nejjary | 1988–1992 | 1992–2000 2007–2010 | Morocco | 1996 | |
| Abdelilah Fahmi | 1988–1993 | 1994–1999 | Morocco | 1995–2005 | |
| Talal El Karkouri | 1994–1995 | 1995–2000 | Morocco | 2000–2009 | Runner-up of AFCON 2004 and 2005 Islamic Solidarity Games |
| Mohamed Kharbouch | 1994–1997 | 1997–2003 | Morocco | 2000–2001 | |
| Hafid Abdessadek | 1992–1997 | 1997–2002 | Morocco | 2006 | |
| Adil Serraj | 1989–1998 | 1998–2000 | Morocco | 2008 | |
| Hicham Misbah | 1994–1999 | 1999–2007 | Morocco | 2004 | |
| Zakaria Aboub | 1993–1999 | 1999–2002 | Morocco | 2004–2007 | |
| Sami Tajeddine | 1993–2000 | 2000–2009 | Morocco | 2002–2004 | |
| Mohamed Armoumen | 1995–2000 | 2000–2003 2008–2009 | Morocco | 2002–2006 | Winner of 2001 Jeux de la Francophonie |
| Nabil Mesloub [fr] | 1996–2000 | 2000–2011 | Morocco | 2002–2006 | |
| Marouane Zemmama | 1997–2000 | 2000–2006 2013–2014 | Morocco | 2008–2009 | Runner-up of 2005 Islamic Solidarity Games |
| Amin Erbati | 1997–2001 | 2001–2008 2010–2013 | Morocco | 2002–2009 | |
| Hicham Aboucherouane | 1999–2001 | 2001–2007 2010–2011 | Morocco | 2002–2009 | |
| Mouhcine Iajour | 1998–2003 | 2004–2007 2012–2014 2017–2019 | Morocco | 2004–2015 | |
| Modibo Maïga | 2004–2005 | 2005–2007 | Mali | 2007–2016 | Bronze medalist of 2013 AFCON |
| Abdessamad Chahiri | 2003–2005 | 2005–2007 | Morocco | 2007–2008 | |
| Said Fattah | 1996–2004 | 2005–2011 2014–2015 | Morocco | 2011–2012 | |
| Mohsine Moutaouali | 1994–2006 | 2006–2014 2019–2022 | Morocco | 2012–2015 | |
| Abdou Razack Traoré | 2006–2007 | 2006–2007 | Burkina Faso | 2011– | Runner-up of 2013 AFCON and bronze medalist of 2017 AFCON |
| Mohamed Oulhaj | 1999–2007 | 2007–2019 | Morocco | 2008–2014 | |
| Yassine Salhi | 2006–2007 | 2007–2016 | Morocco | 2011–2012 | Winner of 2012 Arab Cup |
| Ismail Belmaalem | 1999–2009 | 2009–2015 2018 | Morocco | 2012 | Winner of 2012 Arab Cup |
| Mohamed Chibi | 2001–2011 | 2011–2013 | Morocco | 2021– | Winner of 2013 Islamic Solidarity Games |
| Abdelilah Hafidi | 2009–2011 | 2011–2022 2023 | Morocco | 2013–2021 | Winner of 2018 CHAN and 2020 CHAN |
| Marouane Hadhoudi | 2003–2011 | 2020–2023 | Morocco | 2018 | Winner of 2018 CHAN |
| Badr Benoun | 2001–2013 | 2015–2020 | Morocco | 2016– | Winner of 2018 CHAN and 2013 Islamic Solidarity Games Fourth of the 2022 World Cup |
| Abderrahim Achchakir | 2000–2003 | 2017–2021 | Morocco | 2013–2015 | |
| Soufiane Rahimi | 2006–2017 | 2018–2021 | Morocco | 2021– | Winner and best player of 2020 CHAN |
| Nawfel Zerhouni | 2006–2015 | 2015–2016 2023– | Morocco | 2018 | Winner of 2020 CHAN |
| Azzedine Ounahi | 2010–2015 | – | Morocco | 2022– | Fourth of the 2022 World Cup |
| Reda Slim | 2014–2017 | – | Morocco | 2021 | Winner of 2020 CHAN |

## Honours

This list only includes U-21s honours in national leagues:
* Championnat du Maroc Espoirs / GNF (until 2018–19)
** Winners: 1988–89, 1989–90, 1990–91,1991–92, 1994–95, 1995–96, 1996–97, 1997–98, 1998–99, 2000–01, 2001–02, 2003–04, 2004–05, 2005–06, 2006–07, 2007–08, 2008–09, 2009–10, 2011–12, 2012–13, 2013–14.
** Runners-up: 2010–11, 2014–15, 2015–16, 2018–19.
* Amateurs 3 (North West) [fr]
** Runners-up: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2022–23.