Morocco is a wonderful country, full of history, magnificent natural landscapes and a rich culture. Although it has a strong national identity, the country is relatively young: it only gained independence from France and Spain in 1956. In the earlier part of the century and until then, the country was effectively split: on the north end, from the straight of Gibraltar and covering basically the whole mediterranean coast of Morocco, Spain held a protectorate, while the rest of the country bar Western Sahara (back then called Spanish Sahara) was under the French protectorate.
On this article we will concentrate on the Spanish protectorate. Due to tensions between the Spanish and the Moroccans, and given the fact that most Spanish football teams in the region were mainly composed of military members, the clubs from the Spanish Protectorate were for a long time forced to play among themselves, without chances to compete with the rest of the country in the Iberian peninsula.
In the 20's and 30's many clubs were formed in the region around the city of Tétouan, as interest in football was growing rapidly. In 1932, some supporters of Atletico de Madrid united some local football clubs with the goal of creating a single football club powerful enough to compete with the rest of the Spanish clubs. They founded Athletic Club de Tetuan, taking the name and the badge of Athletic Club de Bilbao and the designing the kits with white and red stripes like those of their beloved Atletico de Madrid. 
M.A. Tetuan's shirt clearly takes inspiration from Atletico Madrid's kit, as well as Athletic Bilbao's badge
In the first few years, despite the goal of playing against the Spanish best, the new club from Tetouan was forced to compete in the local leagues as the Spanish federation still did not allow clubs from the Protectorate to move into the mainland's football pyramid. The turning point came in the 40's: just after being forced by the Francoist regime to translate the name into Spanish, becoming Club Atlético de Tetuan, the Spanish FA completely restructured the league system, finally allowing Spanish Moroccan clubs to compete in the national pyramid.
The club was placed in the third division, but despite this new league boosting the finances significantly, the team couldn't compete with the Spanish clubs and was relegated in just two seasons. The setback only lasted one year: in 1946 Atlético Tetuan won the Spanish-Moroccan league straight away, earning promotion back into the National third tier.
In 1949, a historic campaign led Atlético to victory in the promotion playoffs, and so the club earned its spot in the Segunda Division for the first time ever, but they were not done yet. The first season in the new division was positive: a fifth place in the 16-team southern group meant that Atlético could compete even at this level, but a five point margin from the playoff spots meant that another step forward was needed if the dream of playing in the Primera Division was to be kept alive.
And the step forward, incredibly, came. In 1951, after spending just two years in the second tier, Atlético de Tetuan won the southern group of the Segunda Division, placing ahead of big clubs like Salamanca, Las Palmas, Hercules, Granada and Mallorca. In a very competitive league, with just five points separating the playoff and the playout spots, Atlético were three points clear at the top. From not being able to compete in the Spanish leagues to promotion into the Primera Division in just under a decade, Atlético had just achieved something amazing, making the whole Protectorate proud.
This successful campaign was built on their away results despite the heavy home field advantage that was massively relevant in football at the time. Atlético won 12 of their 14 home matches, only losing once, but crucially earned 10 points away from home in mainland Spain, with three victories and four draws. In today's terms it doesn't sound like much, but back then it was an incredible away campaign and in the end was what separated them from the rest of the table, considering no other team earned more than 8 points in away matches!
Atlético de Tetuan's squad before a Primera Division match
Earning promotion the way they did was always going to be unforgettable, but the story wasn't over yet: in the 1951-52 season the young club from northern Morocco was going to compete against the Spanish giants! Barcelona, Real Madrid, Valencia, Sevilla, and more importantly Atlético de Bilbao (as they were named back then, always because of the regime) and Atlético de Madrid, the two clubs that basically gave birth to Atlético de Tetuan's identity.
Despite the sky-high morale, Atlético's attempt at cimbing all the way to the top of Spanish football had already reached its peak. The Primera Division proved to be too difficult for the African club, which finished dead last in 16th place despite earning a respectable seven wins and five draws, for a total amount of 19 points, 6 points shy of safety.
Relegation was the consequence, but the club still managed to have some satisfaction in this negative year. On matchday 10, at the Estadio Varela in Tetouan, Atlético de Madrid were the visitors. For the first time ever, Atlético de Tetuan was going to play a match against the club that was supported by its own founders! The Madrid side immediately went in front thanks to a goal from Perez Paya, a striker who then went on to become president of the Spanish FA in 1970. Atlético de Tetuan striked back, not once, not twice, not even three times, but an incredible four times! Two goals from Chicha, one from Moreno and one from Marti-Gimeno gifted the Moroccan club probably their most memorable win from the Spanish years.
The remainder of the season went on without much hope of earning safety, despite a couple more notable victories, like the double win over Deportivo and more home wins against Celta Vigo, Sporting Gijon, Real Sociedad and Racing Santander.
The second best result of the season was probably a 3-3 draw against absolute giants Real Madrid: this side would go on to win the first five straight European Cups later in the 50's, but could not defeat Atlético de Tetuan in Morocco, and in fact only saved themselves from defeat with a last minute goal!
After the relegation, Atlético was still competitive in the Segunda Division. They were third in their group a year later, good enough to qualify for the playoffs, but just missed out on promotion to Celta Vigo. In 1954 they finished midtable, but in 1955 Atlético once again missed out on promotion, finishing second just one point behind Real Murcia.
The 1955-56 season was Atlético de Tetuan's last ever campaign in Spanish football: the club finished fourth, one point behind the playoffs, but because Morocco earned its indipendence from Spain and France in that same year all the Moroccan clubs competing in Spain had to either merge with a Spanish club or join the Moroccan football league.
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| King Muhammad V of Morocco |
In the first ever season of the modern Moroccan league, the club was renamed to its modern name of Moghreb Atlético Tetuan, but it struggled to be competitive after losing its spanish players and relegated to the second division straight away.
Since joining the Moroccan leagues Atlético has spent most of its time in the second division, but in the 2010's a new height was reached: the club won the first ever championship in its history on May 28th 2012, away against runners-up and title rivals FUS Rabat. The two clubs were just one point apart going into the last matchday, but a 0-1 win thanks to a goal from Abdelkarim Benhania gifted the visitor their first historic National triumph. This match saw 45,000 supporters travel to Rabat to cheer on the team, a record in Moroccan football.
Atlético then repeated the feat in 2014, winning their second and so far last league title by three points over Raja Casablanca. Winning this title also meant that they qualified for the Club World Cup, as Morocco held the 2014 edition and the league champions were going to qualify as hosts. The team fro Tetouan however lost in the first round against Oceanian champions Auckland City on penalties.
Nowadays, Moghreb Tetouan are struggling to stay in the first division: they are on 16 points with just five matches left, and the chances of survival are slim. However, regardless of current fortunes, they still remain the only African club to ever play in a European top division, and nobody will ever take it from them.
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