Raja CA Under-23s and Academy are the youth teams of Raja CA. The U23 team (or reserve team) mainly consists of Under-23 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-23, that complete Raja's youth system: Espoirs (under-21); Juniors "A" and "B"; Cadets "A", "B" and ''C''; Minimes "A", "B" and "C".
Raja CA is a leading club academy in Morocco. Their first team had historically relied heavily on academy players while their youth teams are competitive in the different leagues at the regional, inter-regional and national levels. It has produced many notable 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 Academy. Up until 2011, the reserves frequently 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 , 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 . 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 titlesAcademy-graduates winners1989Mustapha Khalif, Abderrahim Hamraoui, Mustapha Moustawdae, Abdeljalil Bouchari, Tijani El Maâtaoui, Mustapha El GherchiHassan Mouahid, Khalid Moussalek, Mustapha Soueib, Abdelghani Zerraf, Mohamed Madih, Abdelhak Souadi, Rachid Jebrane (13)1997Abdelilah Fahmi, Omar Nejjary, Mustapha Khalif, Mustapha Moustawdae, Redouane El Haimer, Rimy ZitouniHafid Abdessadek, Talal El Karkouri (8)1999Omar Nejjary, Mustapha Khalif, Mustapha Moustawdae, Hamid Nater, Zakaria Aboub, Redouane El Haimer, Talal El KarkouriZekmous, 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.
In September 2025, the club reorganized its structure by dividing the youth team into two categories:
The U23 reserve team will continue playing in the second division amateur league, with the possibility of including reserve first-team players. The board kept Mohamed Armoumen as head coach. The U21 youth team: will participate in the U21 Botola, with the same schedule of the first team. Noureddine Ziyati was appointed to coach this team.
U-23s 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, U-19 and U-21 national leagues . After their promotion to senior football in 2019, the reserve category has one single team that directly give players to the first team.
Current squad
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. SeasonCompetitionPositionPtsPldWDLGFGAGDRef.2019–202543016684734 +132020–21Amateurs 3 (North West)2553017494329 +142021–22Amateurs 3 (North West)3553016775827 +312022–23Amateurs 3 (North West)2583017766124 +372023–24Amateurs 3 (North West) 5 43 30 12 7 11 37 37 +0
Manager history
(1976–1978) (1982–1984) Mhamed Fakhir (1986–1988) (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) (2022–2023) Rachid Soulaimani (2023–2024) Jean-Marc Nobilo (2024) Mohamed Armoumen (2024–)
Management team
Sporting director Rogério MatiasScouting director Rui AmaroHead of Player Development Silveira RamosUnder-23s head coach Mohamed ArmoumenUnder-21s head coach Noureddine ZiyatiUnder-18s head coach Rachid SoulaimaniUnder-16s head coach Hamid NaterUnder-15s head coach Mustapha KhalifUnder-14s head coach Adil BekkariUnder-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.
PlayerYears played in the AcademyYears played for first teamNational teamYears played for national teamNotesRef.1950–19511951–19641957–1960He was part of Morocco's first national team at the 1957 Arab Games.1951–19531953–19631964–19661963–1964.1951–19541954–19641966–19671959–1966Winner of 1961 Arab Games and played the 1964 Olympics.1952–19561956–19711960–1966.Mustapha Fahim Milazzo1954–19561956–19671959–1964Ali Bendayan1958–19631963–19711963–1969.Houmane Jarir1955–19621962–19771966–1970He scored Morocco's first-ever World Cup goalSaïd Ghandi1955–19641964–19791966–1974.1953–19561965–19661960–1966.Mohamed Abdelalim Bénini1959–19651965–19771965–1966Mohamed Maaroufi1960–19651965–19661967–1974Mustapha Choukri1956–19661966–19751970–1979.Abdelhak Fethi1965–19711971–19861977–1980Abdelmajid Hadry1966–19711971–19791972–1973Abdelmajid Dolmy1969–19741971–19871990–19911971–1988Winner of 1976 AFCON and one of Morocco's most-capped playersJawad El Andaloussi1965–19721972–19771983–19851976–1981Winner of 1976 AFCON1965–19731974–19781979–19831986–19871979–1981Najib Mokhles1971–19751975–19821976–1979.1970–19771977–19861983–1988Winner of 1983 Mediterranean Games and runner-up of 1985 Arab Games.Hassan Mouahid1973–19781978–19901986–1988Mustapha El Haddaoui1973–19791979–19851982–1994Winner of 1983 Mediterranean Games and runner-up of 1985 Arab GamesMohamed Nejmi1973–19741979–19891981–1983Aziz Kharbouch1972–19791979–19801983–19881987–19881973–19821982–19931986–1988.Redouane Hajry1975–19851985–19871993–1995Tijani El Maataoui1980–19851985–19931988–1993Mustapha Khalif1985–19881988–20001993–1998Mustapha Moustawdae1987–19891988–19991994–1998Salaheddine Bassir1983–19911991–19971994–2002Morocco's all-time second top goalscorer.Omar Nejjary1988–19921992–20002007–20101996Abdelilah Fahmi1988–19931994–19991995–2005Talal El Karkouri1994–19951995–20002000–2009Runner-up of AFCON 2004 and 2005 Islamic Solidarity GamesMohamed Kharbouch1994–19971997–20032000–2001Hafid Abdessadek1992–19971997–20022006Adil Serraj1989–19981998–20002008Hicham Misbah1994–19991999–20072004Zakaria Aboub1993–19991999–20022004–2007Sami Tajeddine1993–20002000–20092002–2004Mohamed Armoumen1995–20002000–20032008–20092002–2006Winner of 2001 Jeux de la Francophonie1996–20002000–20112002–2006Marouane Zemmama1997–20002000–20062013–20142008–2009Runner-up of 2005 Islamic Solidarity GamesAmin Erbati1997–20012001–20082010–20132002–2009Hicham Aboucherouane1999–20012001–20072010–20112002–2009Mouhcine Iajour1998–20032004–20072012–20142017–20192004–2015Modibo Maïga2004–20052005–20072007–2016Bronze medalist of 2013 AFCONAbdessamad Chahiri2003–20052005–20072007–2008Said Fattah1996–20042005–20112014–20152011–2012Mohsine Moutaouali1994–20062006–20142019–20222012–2015Abdou Razack Traoré2006–20072006–20072011–Runner-up of 2013 AFCON and bronze medalist of 2017 AFCONMohamed Oulhaj1999–20072007–20192008–2014Yassine Salhi2006–20072007–20162011–2012Winner of 2012 Arab CupIsmail Belmaalem1999–20092009–201520182012Winner of 2012 Arab CupMohamed Chibi2001–20112011–20132021–Winner of 2013 Islamic Solidarity GamesAbdelilah Hafidi2009–20112011–202220232013–2021Winner of 2018 CHAN and 2020 CHANMarouane Hadhoudi2003–20112020–20232018Winner of 2018 CHANBadr Benoun2001–20132015–20202016–Winner of 2018 CHAN and 2013 Islamic Solidarity Games Fourth of the 2022 World CupAbderrahim Achchakir2000–20032017–20212013–2015Soufiane Rahimi2006–20172018–20212021–Winner and best player of 2020 CHANNawfel Zerhouni2006–20152015–20162023–20242018Winner of 2020 CHANAzzedine Ounahi2010–2015–2022–Fourth of the 2022 World CupReda Slim2014–2017–2021Winner of 2020 CHANImad Riahi2010–2019–2025Winner of 2024 CHANAyoub khairi2012–20182018–20212025Winner of 2024 CHANSoufiane Rahimi2006–20172018–20212025–Winner of 2025 AFCONMohamed Chibi2001–20112011–20142025–Winner of 2025 AFCON
Honours This list only includes U-23s 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.
Runners-up: 2019–20, 2020–21, 2022–23.
References