US Marocaine Casablanca
| USM | |||
| Basic data | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Surname | Union Sportive Marocaine de Casablanca | ||
| Seat | Casablanca | ||
| founding | 1916 | ||
| Colours | Red and blue | ||
| First soccer team | |||
| Venue | Stade Philipp, Casablanca | ||
| Places | 10,000 | ||
|
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The Union Sportive Marocaine de Casablanca , short US Marocaine or USM , was a football club in Casablanca (Morocco). Founded in 1916, it is one of the oldest and most successful clubs in the country that was part of French North Africa during colonial times . Soon after Morocco gained independence (1956), the association disbanded, as did some others who were suspected of being too close to the former colonial power.
successes
The USM was unable to win a title in the Groupement National de Football , which was played from 1956/57 and is now recognized solely as an official national championship. But already in 1917, shortly after its foundation and still during the First World War , it won the title of the Ligue du Maroc de football , which from 1919 organized the national competition of the regional subdivision of the Fédération Française de Football as Division d'Honneur . The club's teams won this championship a total of 16 times, the first three times until 1919, then again in series from 1932 to 1935, 1938 to 1943, 1946, 1947 and the last time in 1952.
Also at the North African Championships ( Championnat d'Afrique du Nord or Challenge Louis-Rivet ), which took place from 1921 to 1955 and was interrupted for a longer period due to the Second World War, with the exception of 1942 , in which teams from the Algerian and Tunisian colonial areas also took part in addition to Moroccan teams . the US Marocaine was successful several times. In 1932 she won the competition as the first non-Algerian team, then defended the title twice and was able to bring it back to Casablanca in 1942 and 1952. In 1938 and 1939 she was also in two other finals.
In addition, there were two victories in 1947 and 1953 and four more finals in the North African Cup competition (Coupe d'Afrique du Nord) in the first half of the 1930s , in which teams from all over the Maghreb - including lower class - took part. In the French national cup , in which the clubs from French North Africa were also eligible to start in the 1950s, the USM never made it to the main round - unlike their big local rival Wydad AC ( 1955/56 ) and several teams from Algeria. The competition between the USM and the WAC, founded in 1937 and consisting mostly of Muslims , was at the same time an expression of the contradictions in a colonial society: the former was regarded as the “spearhead of the French in Morocco”, while the latter's successes in direct duels were a “victory about the French dominance ”.
In the mid-1930s, the club employed the Hungarian Vilmos Zsigmond, a coach who familiarized the team with the specifics of Central European football.
USM final results
The USM stood in a total of 13 finals in French North Africa and won seven of them. The years in which the club prevailed are shown in bold. Moroccan clubs only took part in the championship from 1926.
| North Africa Championship | |||
| year | winner | loser | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | USM Casablanca | Gallia Club Oran | 4: 1 |
| 1933 | USM Casablanca | US Musulmane Oranaise | 3-0 |
| 1934 | USM Casablanca | US Tunis | 2-0 |
| 1938 | Jeunesse Bônoise AC | USM Casablanca | 3: 1 a.d. |
| 1939 | Racing Universitaire d'Alger | USM Casablanca | 2: 1 |
| 1942 | USM Casablanca | Club des Joyeusetés Oran | 4: 1 |
| 1952 | USM Casablanca | AS Saint-Eugène | 2-0 |
| North Africa Cup | |||
| year | winner | loser | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Racing Universitaire d'Alger | USM Casablanca | 2: 1 |
| 1933 | Club des Joyeusetés Oran | USM Casablanca | 2: 1 |
| 1934 | Club des Joyeusetés Oran | USM Casablanca | 2-0 |
| 1935 | Club des Joyeusetés Oran | USM Casablanca | 4: 2 |
| 1947 | USM Casablanca | Olympique Hussein-Dey | 2: 1 |
| 1953 | USM Casablanca | Wydad AC Casablanca | 2-0 |
Known players
Four football players temporarily wore the red and white dress of the US Marocaine, who later worked for much of their career in France and became French national players there: Mario Zatelli (from 1929 to 1935 at USM), Larbi Ben Barek (1936–1938 as well again 1939–1945), Abderrahman Mahjoub (until 1951) and Just Fontaine (1950–1953).
Jean Bastien, who grew up in the Algerian part of French North Africa, went the opposite way : after his playing career, which had also led him to the French national team, he worked as a football coach for the US Marocaine in the 1950s .
literature
- Roland H. Auvray: Le livre d'or du football pied-noir et north africain. Maroc – Algérie – Tunisie. Presses du Midi, Toulon 1995, ISBN 2-87867-050-7
- Paul Dietschy / David-Claude Kemo-Keimbou (co-editors: FIFA ): Le football et l'Afrique. EPA, o.r. 2008, ISBN 978-2-85120-674-9
Notes and evidence
- ↑ The question of the recognition of these "colonial titles" is still occasionally discussed in Morocco, such as in this blog regarding the question of how many national championships Wydad Casablanca has won.
- ^ Auvray, p. 372
- ↑ Dietschy / Kemo-Keimbou, p. 80
- ↑ Dietschy / Kemo-Keimbou, p. 257
- ↑ all pairings and results according to Auvray, pp. 367-375
- ↑ Auvray, p. 31
- ↑ According to Auvray, pp. 93 and 369, this game ended 1-0 afterwards; however, there is a detailed match report in the same book on pp. 116–118 in which all four hits are described.