page_title: Ittihad Tanger
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Ittihad Tanger / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Team in the season 2016-15 of Botola Pro
context_page_description: Ittihad Riadi Tanger known as Ittihad Tanger, abbreviation IRT, is a moroccan football club based in Tangier
  The club was founded in 1983 as a union of a number of old clubs around Tangier at the time. Ittihad Riadi Tanger has a basketball team, football, volleyball and Rugby teams, supporting wide range of sports as well. Their home games are hosted at Stade Ibn Batouta.
  IR Tanger has a large fanbase in northern Morocco, especially in the Tanger–Tetouan-Alhoceima region as it is the only relatively one of the biggest clubs in the region and the country itself.
context_section_description: IR Tanger was set up by a fusion of several clubs. Among these were Renaissance de Tanger ('Reborn of Tangier') and other clubs who were playing at the second Moroccan league divisions at the time. The fusion resulted in the a prominent club which stands out in Tangier, especially in the football field, without significant rivalries (Widad Juventud is another sports club operating in Tangier but with less public attention, alongside Maghreb Aqsa Club the oldest existing club participating in the third Division and the amateur section).
  In the early 90s, IR Tangier was one of the most dominating clubs in the Botola delivering some quality football,However, the team could not capitalise, they failed to win any trophies although they came close in the 1989/90 season when they finished as runners up. The notorious 89' season in considered by many to be their best ever as the team piled up victory after another crushing most of the Botola's heavyweights at that time, infamously beating Casablanca's Raja 3 to 1 and Maghreb de Fes 3 to nil.
  Moving on to the later 90s, the Ittihad failed to achieve anything besides maintaining itself in the Botola pro ( known as Botola 1 at the time ). They ended up getting relegated twice before the dawn of the new millennium, finishing rock bottom on respectively both 95/96 and 97/98 seasons.
  The 00/01 season would witness a new Ittihad Tangier, under new management and technical supervision, Coach "Omar Raiss" joined the club on July 2000 and managed to transform the club, The Ittihad's attack became more efficient scoring more than 50 goals that season while its defense was the strongest in the GNF2. These efforts were crowned with a well-deserved promotion , the overall results looked comforting and the Ittihad's future seemed bright.
  The post-promotion era, however, didn't turn out as glorious as it seemed would. a load of technical and staff changes influenced the team's results, and throughout the early 2000s, the only notable achievement was a Throne cup semi-final in the 05/06 season, under governance of Abdelhadi Sektioui, the following season would the Ittihad's last in the Botola, starting what the fans refer to as the "dark ages" of the Ittihad in the 2nd division, an era that lasted 8 long years during which the Ittihad constantly faced risks of dissolution due to administrative mistakes and financial crises, and every time would be rescued by fans and the faithful ultras group. In parallel, the results were as poor as ever, the team would almost always finish middle or bottom table, never able to go past the cup's the round of 32, and even a prevented historical relegation to the 3rd division (Houate) in the 12/13 season. It seemed obvious that Tangerian football was suffering and the ultras group mobilized fans throughout the now-metropolis, requesting new management and a complete renovation of the club via protests and marches.
  These efforts would later on yield many achievements, after setting up a new directive committee, the club nearly made it back to the Botola on the 13/14 season, and with a series of transfers and the arrival of Coach Mohamed Amine Benhachem, the team cruised through the 14/15 season, losing only twice and finishing first by a 5 point lead. The performances made that season were phenomenal and attracted the attention of the entire Moroccan football scene as everyone welcomed the mighty blues back where they belonged.
  In 2015–16 the team made a comeback to the Botola Pro after 8 years in the 2nd division, the club contracted with many local and foreign players where they made a great show under the spotlight of the Botola with promising results, finishing 3rd on their first season back from promotion and therefore qualifying to an African competition for the first time in the history of the club.
caption: IR Tangiers team in 2015–16 Season
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