Moroccan giants absent from CAF Champions League for first time in over two decades

For the first time since 2003, Moroccan football will be without representation from its traditional powerhouses in the CAF Champions League, marking the end of a remarkable 22-year streak.

Wydad Athletic Club, Raja Club Athletic, and AS FAR—clubs that have long defined Morocco’s presence on the continental stage—will all be missing from Africa’s premier club competition in the upcoming season.

The development brings to a close a consistent run in which at least one of the trio featured in the tournament every year since the early 2000s, underlining a period of sustained dominance and regular continental visibility for Moroccan club football.

Wydad and Raja, Casablanca’s fierce rivals and two of the most successful sides in North African football, have both enjoyed significant success in the competition over the years.

Wydad have lifted the CAF Champions League title three times, including their 2021–22 triumph, while Raja have also been crowned continental champions on multiple occasions and famously reached the FIFA Club World Cup final in 2013.

AS FAR, meanwhile, became the first Moroccan club to win the competition in 1985.

Their simultaneous absence signals a notable shift in the competitive landscape of Moroccan football, with questions likely to be raised about the balance of power domestically and the ability of the country’s elite clubs to maintain their long-standing continental consistency.

The CAF Champions League, which has increasingly become a battleground for North and West Africa’s strongest clubs, will proceed without one of its most historically influential footballing nations represented by its biggest names—an outcome that underlines both the unpredictability and evolving nature of African club competition.