Many could argue that Morocco’s prodigious run to the semi-finals of the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar could have not happened without the support of their dedicated fans that moved heaven and earth to travel to the Gulf State to show love and encouragement to the boys that were breaking records on a weekly basis. Speaking at length, the North African Kingdom has a strong reputation for being home to some of the most vocal, expressive, and impressive aficionados in the footballing arena. It’s actually not uncommon for social media users, depending on their algorithm, of course, to come across various footage of popular Moroccan stadium chants on their feed, with most captions praising the ingenuity, uniqueness, and profoundness of the lyrics.
Today, Ultras World (UW), a digital platform specialized in documenting and spotlighting the best football fans around the planet, crowned Wydad Athletic Club’s supporters with the title of best in the world. Followed by almost half a million of subscribers, the platform is considered the ultimate portal to learn about how crowds rally around their respective teams.
This year, the Casablanca-based sports club, which also happen to be the reigning victors of the African Champion’s League, saw its loyal followers listed as the most thrilling and imposing of 2022. Completing the top three were fellow competitors in the Moroccan first division, Olympic Club de Safi, which came in third place, while France’s Olympic de Marseille ranked in second.
“Choosing the best teams took us some sleepless nights as there were so many who deserved to be in. We know that we can’t create a ranking on which everybody agrees. This video shows the groups which were chosen by the UW team. We considered the amount of actions, the creativity of the tifos, the usage of pyro, attendance on football games or other sports, and of course the atmosphere itself,” Ultras World explained.
لا جديد يُذكر و لا قديم يُعاد، جمهور الوداد الرياضي هو الرقم 1️⃣ عالمياً.❤️🎖#DimaWydad pic.twitter.com/fgP6Uq0cFs
— Wydad Athletic Club (@WACofficiel) December 27, 2022
Although subjective to the platform’s sensibility and own criteria, UW also made sure to shoutout the supporters of a handful of sides that were equally as galvanizing but that, unfortunately, didn’t make the cut, ensuring that their ranking “doesn’t mean that other teams who are not in this video showed less passion in supporting their club.” Those teams feature Raja Casablanca, Maghreb Fes, Nantes, Feyenoord Rotterdam, Hammarby, IFK Göteborg, Copenhagen, Widzew Lodz, Rapid Wien, 1. FC Köln, Belgrano de Cordoba, FC Zurich (and) Ferencvaros.
