AS FAR (football club)

ASFAR

Full name	Association's Sports of Forces Armed Royal
Nickname(s)	The Leader The Army Men Black Army
Short name	ASFAR, FAR Rabat
Founded	1 September 1958; 63 years ago (1958-09-01)
Ground	Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium Rabat, Morocco
Capacity	53,300
President	Mohamed Haramou
Manager	Sven Vandenbroeck
League	Botola
2020–21 Botola	3rd
Website	Club website
Home colours Away colours Third colours

The Sports Association of the Royal Moroccan Armed Forces (Association sportive des Forces armées royales, ASFAR) (Arabic: الجمعية الرياضية للقوات المسلحة الملكية, Arabic: نادي الجيش الملكي), is a professional sport club based in Morocco's capital (Rabat-Salé), that competes in Botola, the top tier of Moroccan football.

The club was founded in 1958, 3 years after Morocco had gained their independence and is one of the most famous football clubs in Morocco. The club has traditionally worn a black home kit since inception. ASFAR is a well known club for the success of its football section, very popular in and outside the country. The team has played its home matches in the 53,000 capacity Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium in downtown Rabat since 1983.

The club is one of the most widely supported teams in Africa. ASFAR is one of three founding members of Botola that have never been relegated from the top division since its inception in 1956, along with Wydad AC and Raja CA.^[1][2] The club holds many long-standing rivalries, most notably the rivalries with Wydad AC, Raja CA and FUS Rabat, whom they contest the "Capital Derby" with.

ASFAR is one of the most successful clubs in Morocco with 30 titles in total: 12 Botolas, 11 Moroccan Throne Cups, 4 Moroccan Super Cups, 1 Botola 2, 1 African Champions League and 1 African Confederation Cup. They were the first Moroccan team to win the African Champions League in 1985.

History[]

Early years (1958–1965)[]

King Hassan II,founder of ASFAR with prince Mohammed VI

ASFAR was founded on 1 September 1958, by the initiative of the Crown Prince Moulay El Hassan,^[3] who was an avid football fan himself, by signing a decree as High Commander of the Moroccan Royal Army. The club scouts and players work with the Royal Armed Forces to develop players in multiple aspects (technical level, fitness management, sportsmanship).^[4]

One year after its creation, the football team, while still in the second division, won their first Throne Cup. The same year the club finished first in the division of the Moroccan Championship. In Moroccan Throne Cup, they manage to hide in eighths of final and then face the Wydad Casablanca, the latter is beaten on the score of 1–0. During the quarter-finals, the military defeated the Fath Union Sport Rabat at the first Rabat derby, where ASFAR won the match 3–1. The final took place on December 14, 1959, face Mouloudia Oujda won the first two editions of the throne cup and prepares to make a triple while the military, for their first season, a cut of the throne would be the ideal. Finally the ASFAR win this match on the 1–0 score that is stuck at Stade Mohammed V.^[5]

Goalkeeper Housni Benslimane celebrating ASFAR's 1958–59 Moroccan Throne Cup win

The Royal Army’s won its second title in less than two years, after it squandered the championship title in a play-off against the KAC Kénitra. The 1964-65 season was known for repeated arbitration mistakes, and the meeting with Maghreb de Fès was the point that overflowed the cup with a disastrous arbitration that directly affected the outcome of the meeting and the fate of the championship title by virtue of the fact that the defeat ended 3-0 and in Rabat, the match with a quarrel between the players and the referee. After the incident, the Royal Moroccan Football Federation took an unfair decision to suspend the club for a full season and thus not participate in the championship and cup for the following season 1965-66. The military team spent a white season away from local stadiums, but it did not stop competing, as it preferred to play international matches against international teams and teams to maintain competitiveness. They played nearly 50 international matches in one season against international teams in various European countries such as Spain, France and Russia, including Cádiz CF, Recreativo de Huelva and Gibraltar, most notably against Barcelona at the Camp Nou on December 25, 1966, which ended with four goals to zero in favor of the Spaniards, while they succeeded in snatching a tie against Atlético Madrid in a match on the occasion of the inauguration of the Vicente Calderón Stadium, ended with a score of 2-2, before the team visited the Soviet Union in two trips, the team drew 1-1 against Dinamo Moscow.

Domination of Moroccan football (1965–1984)[]

The Royal Army returned to the atmosphere of competition in the championship, after the banned season, without affecting its technical level, but rather increased strength and immunity, and the conditions and residences of the players improved. And because the Royal Army was considered in the sixties one of the strongest and most professional national clubs, it was crowned with two other titles immediately after resuming its activity in the championship in 1967 and 1968. The 1969-70 season, driss Bamous, dean of the Royal Army and the Moroccan national team at the time, held his seventh championship title in the sixties.

In the same period, at the beginning of the sixties, Al-Asaker also took control of the Moroccan Super Cup three times in a row, after winning the first edition in 1959, which was played at the Philippe Stadium in Casablanca, during which the Royal Army defeated the club, Étoile de Casablanca, by two goals to zero. After the competition was interrupted for one season, the army returned to win the second edition of the cup in 1960-61, which took place in Rabat, with a goal without a response at the expense of KAC Kénitra. In the third edition of the 1961-62 season, which took place in Kenitra, the army defeated MC Oujda with a score of 5 to 3. As for the fourth and final version of the 1962-63 Super Cup, the army outperformed Kawkab Marrakech with a score of 4 to 1.^[6]

Then the Royal Army, led by its French coach Clezo and its big stars, began to dominate the league competition by winning four titles, and the team’s first meeting with the championship title was in the 1960-61 season, and control of the championship title continued for four consecutive seasons until 1964 as a new record.^{[7][8][9][10]}

Internationally and in the same era, the Royal Army team had the honor of participating in the first edition of the Mohammed V Cup in 1962, after winning the league title the same year, the Royal Army was ranked third, after a 5-0 defeat against French club Stade Reims. They were set to face Real Madrid for the third place position, the five-time European champion at the time and the winner of the League, a week before its participation in the cup. where at that time had superstars such as Alfredo Di Stéfano, Ferenc Puskás and José Santamaría. The match ended in 4-3 victory, thus becoming the first Arab and African team to beat the 20th Century Club.^[11]

In the fifth participation, the military team was able to reach the final of the Mohammed V Cup for the first time in 1967, when it eliminated in the semi-finals the Dukla Prague team from the Czech Republic with a score of 1-0, to face the Bulgarian CSKA Sofia in the final, which won the title at the expense of the military team with great difficulty by a score of 1- 0.^[12] The military team returned to the Mohammed V Cup final in 1970 for the second time, after it eliminated in the semi-finals the Belgian team Standard Liège 1-0, the confrontation that took place in the Stade Mohammed V, where they faced the Spanish giant Atlético Madrid, the Royal Army lost 4-1.^[13]

The Royal Army titled the Conqueror of the African Jungle. It was the first Moroccan team to participate in African competitions by drawing the 1968 African Cup of Champions Clubs, after winning the league for the same year. With the beginning of the seventies, exactly in 1971, and after an absence of 11 years, the military team, accompanied by its Spanish coach Sabino Barinaga, won the second title of the Moroccan Throne Cup at the expense of Maghreb Fez, after the match ended in a 9-8 penalty shootout victory.

First African title (1984-2004)[]

The Royal Army team started recruiting new players in order to fill some gaps in its structure after the departure of some players. These contributed to the revival of the army's awakening to the fore again, after its has faded for 12 years in which it did not achieve any title. The first fruit was the coronation of the Royal Army in the year 1984. After the team achieved the most important victory by winning the championship titles and the Moroccan Throne Cup, despite the short period that José Faria spent at the head of the technical staff, and this would not have been achieved without his seriousness, discipline and rapid harmony with the components of the Royal Army, as well as changing the style of playing the team that has been known since the establishment with the approach of the method of acquisition of The ball to push opponents and force them to run, in addition to his close relationship with all players, which was dominated by the human side, as he was often forced to pay the players’ salaries from his own money, or give them rewards for their brilliance.^[14][15]

The Royal Army team entered the African competition, after winning the championship title, by participating in the 1985 African Cup of Champions Clubs. It entered history through its wide door as the first Moroccan team to win a continental title. The Moroccans were very proud of their club, which was able to conquer the most powerful African teams at the time, such as the Egyptian Zamalek team, the title holder. In this era, many players from the Royal Army team also represented the Moroccan national team, such as Mohamed Timoumi, Abderrazak Khairi, Abdelmajid Lamriss and Jalili Fadili, in addition to coach José Faria, who continued to combine the two tasks of training the Royal Army and the Morocco national football team and succeeded in that and made a golden history, thanks to experience These players, the efficiency of the coach and the great support provided by the public, the Royal Army team reached the semi-finals of the African Champions League for the second time in its history, where it faced the Egyptian team Zamalek, and the first leg ended with a score of 1-0 from a penalty kick in favor of the Egyptians in Cairo, and the same result was recorded in Rabat from A penalty kick by Shesha before the match was settled by penalty kicks (4-3), which saw the brilliance of goalkeeper Salah El-Din Hamid, who gave the team qualification for the final round by blocking two penalties, and the joy was not yet complete. In the final, the FAR team faced AS Bilima, the champions of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and despite the injury of Timoumi and Abdeslam Laghrissi, the first leg match in Rabat ended with a great victory for the military team, 5-2. The away game ended in a 1-1 draw which gifted the Royal Army their first CAF Champions League title.^[16][17] After this historical achievement, Hassan II of Morocco insisted on receiving the military team at his residence in the suburbs of the French capital, Paris, after this first African coronation of its kind. The team is an exceptional congratulations from King Hassan II.^[18]

Then the military team won its second title in a row for the Throne Cup in the same year 1985, at the expense of Difaâ Hassani El Jadidi with a score of 3-0, before repeating the same achievement in 1986 by winning the third cup in a row, at the expense of Difaâ Hassani El Jadidi again with a score of 3-1. and with these three successive titles, the Royal Army became the second team to have the honor of keeping the cup in its treasury after Kawkab Marrakech, because the law of the competition grants the winner of the title three times in a row the honor of keeping the Silver Cup permanently. And the 1986 Afro-Asian Club Championship, the first edition of its kind, which was held in Riyadh in January 1987, between the Royal Army, the African champions, and the South Korean club, Busan IPark, the Asian champion, was known as the latter's champion with 2-0 victory.^[19]

The Royal Army's continental march continued, reaching the quarter-finals of the 1986 African Cup of Champions Clubs, where it faced the Cameroonian team Canon Yaounde, and the first leg match ended with a 2-0 defeat in the Cameroonian capital. The match was marked by a great bias for the referee of the match, while the return match in Rabat ended with the victory of the Royal Army with a single goal signed by Abdel-Malik Al-Aziz, which was not enough to qualify the military team for the half.^[20]

Then the Royal Army team embraced the championship title for the second time with Faria in 1987, and in 1989 with Argentine Angelillo, making the military team the first team to reach 10 championships. This generation continued its continental tour by reaching the semi-finals of the 1988 African Cup of Champions Clubs for the third time in the team's history. To the penalty shootout that defined the Nigerian team's superiority, the Royal Army missed another opportunity to cross into the final.^[21]

The Return (2004-)[]

ASFAR Season 2007-08 the winner of Botola and Moroccan Cup

The Royal Army won two successive titles for the Moroccan Throne Cup in two Clasico matches at the expense of rival Wydad Casablanca, in 2003 with a goal of zero from a header by Hafeez Abdel-Sadiq with a pass from Ahmed, and in the 2004 final, the match ended in a goalless draw, which continued into overtime as well, to decide the penalty shootout, which marked the brilliance of goalkeeper Tariq Al-Jarmouni, and the match ended with the army winning 3-0 on penalties.^[22][23]

After a long absence from the championship title that lasted 15 seasons, the military team returned to win its 11th league title in 2005, in a historic match drawing the 30th and last round of the league, in the Mohammed V compound in front of Raja Casablanca, leaders by two points, which needed a draw only to crown the title, but it was The soldiers have another opinion, and the Mohamed Fakhir battalion was able to overthrow Raja and win a clean double signed by Mohamed Armoumen, who also won the top scorer title. The army took the championship title from the city of Casablanca amid a great public astonishment for the opponent and the great joy of the soldiers, where the meeting was titled in the 21st century match in the Moroccan championship.

After 20 years of winning its first African title, the FAR team won the CAF Confederation Cup in 2005 after defeating the Nigerian Dolphins F.C 3-1 in aggregate.^[24] Ghana, after winning five matches and drawing one in Marsa against its local team. ASFAR later went on to lose the 2006 CAF Super Cup against Al Ahly SC on penalties.^[25]

On 2 December 2006, ASFAR lost the 2006 CAF Confederation Cup final after losing to Étoile Sportive du Sahel on an away goal.^[26] With this proven arsenal of players, Al-Asaker won the Moroccan Throne Cup for three consecutive years for the second time in its history, to have the honor of keeping the second silver cup forever in its treasury in an unprecedented achievement, and this came to him by winning the first cup in 2007 in Fez with coach Mustapha Madih.^[27] And in the 2007-08 season, with the determination of its players and the cohesion of its fans and managers, the Royal Army scored the double of the League and the Cup, winning the league for the 12th time with coach Mustapha Madih,^[28] before coach Mohamed Fakhir returned to win his third cup, and the second for the team, respectively, and it was at the expense of Maghreb Fez with a goal without a response.^[29] The team won its third consecutive title in the Cup in 2009 with Belgian coach Walter Meeuws, against FUS Rabat, which was decided by penalty kicks, after the end of the match in a tie. An individual record and a third consecutive title for the Army by scoring the equalizing goal from a strong kick from outside the box in the 88th minute of the match, so that the two teams ruled for penalty kicks, so that the Army won the 11th title in its history.^[30]

Grounds[]

Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium[]

Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium (Arabic: مركب الأمير مولاي عبد الله) is a multi-purpose stadium in Rabat, Morocco. It is named after Prince Moulay Abdellah of Morocco. It was built in 1983 and is the home ground of ASFAR. It is currently used mostly for football matches and it can also stage athletics. The stadium holds 52,000. Since 2008 it is host of the Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme de Rabat. It was a confirmed venue for the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations until Morocco was stripped of its hosting rights. It was also a venue for the 2014 FIFA Club World Cup.

Sports Center of FAR[]

The Sports Center of the Royal Armed Forces, is a sports center for training and headquarters of the Royal Army Club in the Maamoura Forest near Rabat–Salé Airport in the east, and away from the city of Salé about 10 km, and 15 km from the capital Rabat, and represents one of the most important Multi-sport sports infrastructure in Morocco. The task of constructing the sports center, which extends over a total area of ​​forty hectares, was entrusted to the “Kotter” company approved by the International Football Association, and the works were completed in 1999. It was newly built by the Royal Army Football Academy, north of the sports center, which includes training fields and a group of schools.^[31]

Honours[]

This is a list of honours for the senior AS FAR team that include a total of 32 Trophies^[32]

Friendly competitions[]

• Trofeo Semana del Sol
  • Winner (1): 1977
• Mohammed V Trophy
  • Runners-up (2): 1967, 1970
• North African Cup of Champions
  • Runners-up (1): 2008
• International elite championship
  • Runners-up (1): 2008
• Ahmed Antifit Tournament
  • Winner (1): 2007
  • Runners-up (1): 2009

Top scorers in Botola[]

AS FAR Season 2009–10

The ASFAR controls the title of Top scorers in Botola, which has the largest number of scorers a total of 14 times.[1]

Season	Nat	Player	Goals Scored
1980			15
1983		Abdeslam Laghrissi	14
1987		Abderrazak Khairi	12
1988			17
1990		Abdeslam Laghrissi	22
1991			15
1992			11
1995		Abdeslam Laghrissi	15
2005		Mohamed Armoumen	12
2007		Jawad Ouaddouch	12
2008			13
2009		Mustapha Allaoui	14
2011		Jawad Ouaddouch	11
2016		Mehdi Naghmi	12

Top scorers in CAF Champions League[]

Season	Nat	Player	Goals Scored
1985		Saad Dahane	4
1985			4
1985		Abderrazak Khairi	4
1988		Abdeslam Laghrissi	7

Performance in CAF competitions[]

The public's failure at finale the CAF Cup 2006

At the continental level, AS FAR is the first Moroccan club to have participated in an African Cup; It was in 1968, when it has reached the stage of the semi-finals of the African Cup of Champions Clubs. She was also the first Moroccan club to win the CAF Champions League, in 1985.

• CAF Champions League: 6 appearances

2005 – Second Round

2006 – Second Round

2007 – Group stage (Top 8)

2008 – Preliminary Round

2009 – First Round

2014 – Preliminary Round

• African Cup of Champions Clubs: 5 appearances

1968 – Semi-finals

1985 – Champion

1986 – Quarter-finals

1988 – Semi-finals

1990 – Second Round

• CAF Confederation Cup: 6 appearances

2004 – Play-off round

2005 – Champion

2006 – Finalist

2010 – First Round

2013 – Play-off round

2022 – Second round

• CAF Cup Winners' Cup: 5 appearances

1987 – Quarter-finals

1997 – Finalist

1999 – Quarter-finals

2000 – Quarter-finals

2001 – Second Round

• CAF Super Cup: 1 appearances

2006 – Finalist

African cups all-time statistics[]

As of 26 March 2019

Players[]

Pierre Kalala and Driss Bamous during the return of the 1968 African Champions Cup semi-final, against the AS FAR, in January 1969 TP Englebert in Casablanca

First team squad[]

As of 15 September 2021.

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player 1 GK  MAR Mohamed Baayou 2 DF  MAR Brahim Dahmoun 3 DF  MAR Mohamed El Mahdi Barkaoui 4 DF  RWA Emmanuel Imanishimwe 5 DF  MAR Mohamed Chibi 6 DF  MAR Omar Jerrari 7 MF  MAR Reda Slim 8 MF  MAR Brahim Sabaouni 9 FW  MAR Abdelillah Amimi 10 MF  MAR Zakaria Fati 11 MF  MAR Khalid Ait Ouarkhane 12 GK  MAR Hassan Doughmi 13 MF  MAR Hamza Moujahid 14 FW  MAR Noah Sadaoui 17 FW  MAR Mohamed El Khaloui

No. Pos. Nation Player 18 FW  CMR Lambert Araina 19 DF  MAR Anouar Tarkhatt 20 DF  MAR Ayman Chabani 22 GK  MAR Ayoub Lakred 23 DF  CPV Diney 24 MF  MAR Mounir El Allouchi 25 DF  MAR Reda Mhannaoui 27 FW  MAR Mohssine Abba 29 DF  MAR Mouhamed Moufid 30 MF  MAR Ayoub El Malyani 31 FW  MAR Hamza Igamane 33 FW  MAR Ismail Khafi 34 MF  MAR Mohamed Rabie Hrimat 35 MF  GAB Abdou Atchabao

Managers[]

Current technical staff[]

Role	Name
Head coach	Sven Vandenbroeck
Assistant coaches	Adil Serraj
Assistant coaches	Mohamed Samadi
Goalkeeping coach	Khalid Askri
Fitness coache	Yohwen guihard
Fitness coache	Hassane Benazzouz
Kinetotherapist	Adil Boussif
Club doctor	Jawad Nadim
Masseur	Mohamed Abdellaoui

• Last updated: 21 August 2021

Former coach[]

Sports Club[]

There are several other sporting branches in the club besides football professionally and the results of the Club in those prestigious results are sports and distinct local and continental levels.

Popular culture[]

In 2009, a documentary book was published by the player and coach Azzouz Belfaida with the help of his brother Abdelaziz under the title The Royal Army: The Story of a Football Legend and documenting fifty years full of achievements and titles from the career of the Royal Army football team, From its founding in 1958 at the initiative of Hassan II of Morocco, then Crown Prince, until 2009, it is the first book of its kind in Morocco.

In 2018, the two brothers, Azzouz and Abdelaziz Belfayda, issued a new book on the Royal Army, which includes an inventory of the most important achievements and failures in the period between 2009 and 2017. The new 159-page book, titled “A Renewed Story of a Football Legend,” aims to document and excavate the military team’s archives by reviewing the stations that made it a strong team, before its level declined in recent years, reinforced by rare photos, whether of former stars or Currently. Azzouz Belfayda, a historian of the Royal Army, explained that the new version includes accurate details of the team's path from 2009 to now, adding that its purpose is to highlight the role of the military team in producing players throughout history.

Supporters[]

ASFAR has the largest number of supporters of any team in Morocco the greater the focus of fans are in The region Rabat-Salé-Kénitra, It has a population of 4,580,866. Also, the club has an important fan base inside the country, where several towns are renowned for counting vast majorities of ASFAR supporters, and outside the borders, among Moroccan emigrants.

The ASFAR Ultras movement began in 2005, when the bases of Ultras Askary Rabat (UAR), And The second group Black Army (BA) was created in 2006, Their sanctuary is the southern Included of the Prince Moulay Abdellah Stadium.

• 

  Curva chè

• 

  Tifo Ultras Black Army

• 

  Pyroshow Ultras Askary

• 

  Tifo Ultras Askary before a final Coupe de Trône

On 14 March 2022, ASFAR with its rival Maghreb Fez received a huge fine and punishments from the Royal Moroccan Football Federation for it fans causing chaos by storming in after the match ended. Conducting the team’s matches inside its field without an audience. The fans of the Royal Army team, which left serious injuries of varying severity among the members of the public force and the fans. And material losses were caused to the stadium’s equipment.^[33][34]

Women[]

ASFAR has a women's team, AS FAR (women).^[35][36] The women's team won the national league in 2021.^[37][38][39] Afterwards they won the UNAF zonal qualifier which qualified them to the inaugural 2021 CAF Women's Champions League.^[40][35][36]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to AS FAR.

• Official club website
• Official supporters website