Wydad AC arrive at the Club World Cup still searching for their first win in the competition, despite being Morocco’s most decorated club and a continental heavyweight. Drawn alongside European giants Manchester City and Juventus, as well as familiar foes Al Ain, can the Red Castle finally flip the script on the global stage?
1) Who will Wydad Casablanca face at the Club World Cup?
Wydad Casablanca have been drawn into Group G and these are their group stage fixtures:
18 June: vs Manchester City. Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia.
22 June: vs Juventus. Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia.
26 June: vs Al Ain. Audi Field, Washington DC.
2) Domestic domination
Wydad Casablanca are Morocco's most-successful club, having won 22 Botola titles, which is nine more than their fierce local rivals Raja Casablanca, who have the next most.
3) Continental success
On top of this, the Red Castle are three-times CAF Champions League winners. They were crowned African champions for the very first time in 1992, before also claiming the trophy in 2017 and 2022, defeating Al Ahly of Egypt in both of those finals.
In fact, Wydad AC have featured in four of the last eight CAF Champions League Finals, also runners-up in the inaugural African Football League two years ago, narrowly defeat 3-2 on aggregate by Mamelodi Sundowns in final of a tournament that may or may not be defunct, no one really knows!
4) A season lacking silverware
Despite having won the Botola on five occasions since 2015, Wydad AC have now failed to win any of the last three Moroccan titles. This season, they finished third, a humungous 16 points adrift RS Berkane, who were crowned champions for the first time ever. Also, the most-recent of their nine domestic cup triumphs came in 2001, dumped out in the last 16 of this year's edition by Moghreb Tetuan back in April.
5) Unbeaten streak in 2025
This campaign was very much a tale of two halves for Wydad Casablanca. After 16 Botola matches, they'd claimed just five victories and suffered four defeats, thereby languishing in sixth.
However, since the turn of the year, the Red Castle remain unbeaten in the league, winning eight of their 14 fixtures, concluding the season with three straight wins, albeit their Club World Cup opener will be their first competitive outing since a 2-0 victory over RCA Zemamra as far back as 11 May.
6) Past Club World Cup expirence
Wydad Casablanca has previously featured at two edition of the Club World Cup, with little success to date. In 2017, on debut, they were dumped out by Pachuca after extra time in the quarter-finals, before also losing 3-2 against Urawa Red Diamonds in the highly-prestigious fifth-place play-off.
Then, in February 2023, on sort of home turf, 55 miles up the coast in Rabāṭ, they were again defeated in the quarter-finals, this time at the hands of Al Hilal in a penalty shootout.
7) Wydad AC players to watch: Mohamed Rayhi
If Wydad AC are going to claim that illusive first-ever Club World Cup win, Mohamed Rayhi is likely to be their main man for goals. Born in Eindhoven, he came through PSV's young academy, without ever featuring for their first team. After spells with fellow-Eredivisie clubs NEC Nijmegen and Sparta Rotterdam, he bounced around a few Middle Eastern clubs, before moving to Morocco last summer.
Well, Rayhi certainly made an impression during his debut campaign in Casablanca, scoring 13 goals, making him the club's top-scorer, while also collecting the Botola golden boot.
8) Wydad AC players to watch: El Mehdi El Moubarik
Another key player is likely to be El Mehdi El Moubarik, a defensive midfielder who started 20 of their 26 Botola matches since arriving. The 24-year-old is worth highlighting because he is currently on loan from Al Ain, who Wydad will face in their final group stage game at Audi Field, which could certainly be interesting.
9) Manager Mohamed Amine Benhachem; did he appoint himself?
The day after their domestic campaign came to an end, Wydad sacked manager Rhulani Mokwena, leaving after only one season in charge, after enjoying much success with Mamelodi Sundowns in his home country South Africa beforehand.
His replacement, who will be in charge at this tournament, is Mohamed Amine Benhachem, which is noteworthy because he had been working as the club's sporting director, suggesting he chose to appoint himself, which is certainly one way to go.
10) Will Wydad claim a win?
As alluded to earlier, it's played three and lost three for Wydad Casablanca at the Club World Cup, a streak that could continue stateside this summer.
This first two fixtures in Philadelphia will see them face two European heavyweights Manchester City and then Juventus, which is certainly a daunting prospect. Their final match against Al Ain is unquestionably more winnable, but both teams may already have been eliminated by then.