Have you been enjoying the AFCON 2023? It’s almost over and that means that it’s time to get back to league football. Botola, the top ranked league in Africa will be resuming this week.
The highlights of matchday 16 will be FUS Rabat v Wydad Casablanca and MC Oujda vs RS Berkane. That’s not all. There are 4 other things that will be keeping us awake as the Moroccan league resumes:
FAR Rabat or Raja Casablanca?
The two teams are tied on 33 points at the top of the Botola. They also ended the first leg of the 2023/2024 season in similar form – although Raja Casablanca remains undefeated. Neither side has the distraction of continental football so all their focus will be on the title race.
Nasreddine Nabi has strengthened FAR Rabat by signing Tumisang Orebonye. He will hope that this striker will do better than the earlier big name signing Ismail Agoro. Conversely, Jack Zinbbauer has no worries about goal scorers since he has two players chasing the golden boot.
Good thing that these two sides will meet early in the second leg of the season to give us clearer picture on who is stronger.
Can Wydad Still Qualify for African Football?
It is an understatement to say that Wydad Casablanca have been having a terrible season. In fact they remain winless in 5 league matches despite hiring Benzarti as the new coach.
They have tried to use the mid-season break to carry out a mini-clearout. The likes of Sambou and Boussefiane are gone. But the acquisitions don’t leave a lot to hope for. A lot of the work will rest on the talents of the coach to get the most out of this squad – and also for CAFCC to keep RS Berkane distracted in that race for third place.
Which Big Club is Going Down?
Morocco’s football system is a hard place to be a big club it seems. They already have big clubs like CODM Meknes, Kenitra and Kawkab Marrakech struggling in the lower tiers. Ittihad Tanger and Hassania Agadir (remember them from CAFCC?) have been flirting with relegation the last couple of season and it looks like at least one of them will run out of luck this season.
I don’t think there will be another final day of the season escape, Tanger.
How Will The Stadium Situation Affect Botola?
Has Morocco bitten more than it can chew or is it just the usual weak planning in Africa? You have stadiums closed for World Cup 2030 and for AFCON 2025 renovation works. It’s a terrible situation since you essentially have all the major club of the Botola being unable to cash-in on home support – Raja Casablanca, Wydad Casablanca, FAR Rabat and Maghreb Fez have all been nomadic in the first half of the season. I guess it will be another 5 or so months of Stade El Bachir. Will this affect the title, continental and relegation fights?
CAF Observer 