Elected President of Raja Casablanca in July 2025, Jawad Ziyat has continued to oversee the restructuring process initiated with the implementation of Raja SA. Nearly a year later, he believes the club has reached a significant milestone in its transformation. Ziyat detailed the key projects shaping the club’s future, encompassing economic development, sporting reorganization, and continental ambitions.
While Raja SA has yet to generate a substantial increase in revenue, Ziyat stated that several major initiatives are already underway to strengthen the club’s long-term financial resources.
“From a revenue standpoint, there has been slight improvement, but more importantly, we have several major structural projects that will allow us to significantly increase our income,” he said.
Ticketing, matchday revenue, merchandising, and marketing have all been identified as crucial growth areas.
“The Raja SA executive management, together with the marketing department and all our teams, is currently working on these projects, which will help increase our revenues,” the club president explained.
On the sporting side, Ziyat acknowledged that Raja’s most recent recruitment campaign fell short of expectations.
“The assessment is mixed. When mistakes are made, you have to acknowledge them. We can say that we were not fully successful with our recruitment,” he admitted.
However, he believes the experience highlighted the necessity for a stronger sporting structure.
“It taught us that, to build a well-structured club, we need a stronger technical staff and sporting department. That is exactly what we have done,” he said.
Ziyat outlined the club’s new organizational structure, which now includes a sporting director, a scouting director, an academy director, a head of performance, an assistant coach with extensive knowledge of both the Botola Pro and Raja, and a youth recruitment manager.
“We now want to organize everything in a scientific way, relying on data, video analysis, and scouting to identify the profiles we need in every age category. If we don’t have a high-level goalkeeper at the age of 16 or 17, it means that four years from now we will face a problem with the first team,” he said.
He also stressed that responsibilities within the club have been clearly redefined.
“The head coach identifies the team’s needs, the sporting department analyzes them, proposes players, and oversees recruitment. The board of directors supervises and provides strategic direction, but no longer manages the club’s day-to-day operations. We want competent professionals to ensure continuity regardless of which board is in place,” Ziyat explained.
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Speaking about the sports company model, the Raja president stated it has become an essential step for Moroccan clubs.
“All clubs have established their sports companies, but very few have actually implemented them,” he said.
“Launching Raja SA first required the support and commitment of the club’s members. We were able to achieve that thanks to the backing of Raja’s members and all the club’s stakeholders.”
According to Ziyat, the second challenge has been attracting investors.
“It is not an easy process. I would like to thank Ports4Impact, the Marsa Maroc Foundation, which became a shareholder alongside us and agreed to take on this challenge.”
Once those foundations are in place, implementing the project takes time, he added.
“The clubs you referred to activated their sports companies before we did and gradually built their structures. Raja has followed the same path, and we intend to accelerate the process so we can become even stronger and more efficient over the coming seasons.”
Ziyat also called for greater clarity regarding the Botola Pro calendar.
“To properly manage a football club, you need visibility. We need an annual schedule that is known in advance. It allows the coaching staff to plan physical preparation while also enabling the club to organize its marketing and commercial activities.”
He acknowledged that the previous campaign was exceptional because of the Africa Cup of Nations hosted by Morocco and the FIFA World Cup.
“We hope that next season we will receive a clear schedule early enough to overcome all these constraints.”
Beyond football, Ziyat highlighted the work carried out by the club’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) unit.
“We have developed our CSR activities around three main pillars. The first focuses on helping former Raja players facing financial hardship gain access to decent housing. The second is dedicated to healthcare, providing financial or medical support whenever needed. The third focuses on education, helping the children and families of former Raja players,” he explained.
Having secured qualification for the CAF Confederation Cup, Raja is now targeting success on the continental stage.
“Raja always competes for titles. Returning to continental competition was an important objective for us. Whether it is the CAF Confederation Cup or the CAF Champions League, our ambition is always to go as far as possible and compete for the title,” the club president said.
Ziyat concluded with a message to Raja’s members and supporters.
“I would like to thank the members who believed in this strategy of activating Raja SA. Raja is on the right track. We are going to build a very strong team capable of competing for the league title next season.”
