On 20 March 1949, in a working-class neighbourhood of Casablanca, a club was born with dreams that went beyond football. On 20 March 2027 Raja Casablanca turns 78. And its green shirt remains one of the best loved in Africa.

A club of the resistance

Morocco was then a French protectorate. Raja was founded in the Derb Sultan district by Moroccan nationalists and trade unionists, among them the union leader Mahjoub Ben Seddik. For the founders it was also a way to give a voice to the city's working-class youth.

From the start Raja stood against Wydad, the city's older club, which was seen as the team of the middle classes. That is how the Casablanca derby was born, the biggest local rivalry in Moroccan football. The new team started out in the Division d'honneur and reached the top flight within two seasons.

A name drawn by lot

According to the sources, the name did not come from endless debate but from a draw. The two candidate names were "Raja" and "Fath", and luck picked the first.

The full name is Raja Club Athletic. Fans proudly call it "the People's Club" or "Raja Al Alami", meaning "the global Raja".

Green for hope, white for the city

Raja has worn green and white since its first matches in 1949. The founders chose green for its symbolism of hope and growth, and it is also one of the colours of the Moroccan flag.

White is the colour of Casablanca itself, the "white house" city, which takes its name from it. From 1968 to 1980 the shirt was made by adidas and then, until 1995, by Puma.

The eagle and the four stars

The eagle has been the club's emblem and mascot since its foundation. For the founders it stood for a strong, combative bird, at a time when the country lived under foreign rule. That is where the nickname "Green Eagles" comes from.

Above the eagle shine four golden stars. Three are for the African Champions League titles of 1989, 1997 and 1999, while the fourth was added in 2011, for the tenth Moroccan league title.

Père Jégo and beautiful football

In the 1950s the bench was taken by the legendary Père Jégo, who had first found glory with Wydad. Sources disagree on exactly when he arrived, 1952 or 1957, but they agree that he gave Raja a style built on short passes, movement and spectacle.

In the first derby of independent Morocco, in 1956-57, Raja beat favourites Wydad 1-0. In 2013 they reached the Club World Cup final, losing 2-0 to Bayern, as the first Arab team to play in such a final.

The shirt has been worn by legends such as Abdelmajid Dolmy, the club's appearance record holder, as well as Mustapha Moustawdaa and Mustapha Chadili of the great 1990s side.

Home is the Stade Mohammed V, which opened in 1955 as the Stade Marcel Cerdan and took its current name in 1983. There the Green Boys, founded in 2005 as Morocco's first ultras group, fill the south stand, the "Magana", with green smoke and spectacular tifos.

Celebrate with us

Green, white and an eagle on the chest: the Raja shirt is the symbol of a neighbourhood that dreamed of freedom. 78 years later, that dream still fills the stands.

Happy birthday, Raja! May the Green Eagles always fly high.

See our collectible jerseys at sportarena.gr.

Photo: Raja, Moroccan champions, 2011 – mustapha ennaimi, Wikimedia Commons, licensed under CC BY 2.0.