There are hundreds of clubs in Spain that dream of playing in the country’s top football division, but they find it too difficult to reach it. And yet, there’s a club in Africa which managed to achieve such status. It’s Moghreb Atletico Club Tetuan.The club was founded during the Spanish rule of in Tetuan in 1922 by a group of Atletico Madrid-supporting students, forming a relationship that lasts still. 100 años de historia, un siglo. Un club histórico, y los que queda de gloria. Moghreb Atlético Tetuán 🕊 pic.twitter.com/vaVDVQRVqC— Y|ياسين (@yassine_azirar) March 13, 2022 Right from the start, the colours of the Madrid team were adopted to underline their lineage and keep away annoying government measures. Under the dictatorship of General Francisco Franco, in fact, it was impossible to show non-Spanish names or effigies and this led the club to resemble more and more the team it was inspired by.Many eyebrows were raised in Spain when the red and whites from the north of Africa arrived to play Barcelona and Real Madrid. It wasn’t easy for the team that had the longest away trips in the league. Moroccan players could never get enough rest before the matches and ended up losing all games on the road. However, things were a little better at home, and they even managed a famous 3-3 draw with Real Madrid at their La Hìpica Stadium. And even though the season ended with the Tetuan side relegated after finishing bottom, nobody can ever take away such a remarkable achievement from the Moroccan side.On this day 71 years ago: Barcelona played for the first time an official game in Morocco, beating Atletico Tetuan 3-1 in Copa del Rey Quarter finals. pic.twitter.com/qmnyjefIh0— adil (@Barca19stats) May 6, 2022 With Moroccan independence in 1956, the club was forced to change its name to Moghreb Tetuan and to leave La Liga forever. However, the club was more Spanish than Arabic due to its origin and culture. That led to decades of playing in the lower leagues before returning to Botola Pro as a recognised force in the Moghreb country. It was only in 2012 that the club won its first national championship.Even today, almost 100 years after its foundation, there is a strong link between Atletico Madrid and the small Moroccan team. The Spanish club in fact sent some senior managers in 2007 to form football schools and a partnership program between the two teams. There were also plans for a friendly between the two red and white sides, but unfortunately, it’s yet to happen.Moghreb Atlético Tetuan has played first game with the new logo and kit in honor of the 100th anniversaryMAT has had a fan design the kits and logo, making it the 1st 🇲🇦 club to do it. The new kits has a logo of province and flag of Tetouan, DNA and slogan ♥️🇲🇦 pic.twitter.com/rwnLRVlbyI— 𝗠𝗩𝗡_𝗘𝗡 | 🇲🇦 𝗙𝗼𝗼𝘁𝗯𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗡𝗲𝘄𝘀 (@MVN_EN) January 22, 2022 These days, the red and whites are back in Botola Pro after a one-year stay in Botola 2. They won the second-tier division last with 11 points ahead of the second-placed Union Touarga. Last Friday, Atletico celebrated a 1-0 win over Ittihad Tanger in the Northern Derby. That’s the way to mark your club’s centenary year!
