Trebor Mahtal arguably took a backwards step in his managerial career as a tricky season at semi-pro Nigerien side AS Police saw his reputation drop two bars down to local. And that effectively felt like he’d thrown away 11 years of management in which he’d won 9 trophies, as clubs in the major African nations had zero interest in his services.
A few clubs in Algeria, Egypt and Tanzania laughed off his applications before being offered interviews in Nigeria and then one in Morocco. Both clubs were a big step up from the previous role but had been both relegated from the top tiers. The Nigerian side made an offer, which Mahtal delayed, before also being approach by the side from Morocco. That gave him a huge choice, and he felt like the Moroccan club was the best option.
Who Are HUS Agadir?
Hassania Union Sport d’Agadir, also known as Hassania Agadir, l’Hassania or HUSA, is a professional club based in the city of Agadir, located on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean at the foot of the Atlas Mountains in southern Morocco, around 140 miles south of Marrakech. The city is the capital of Berber culture, from an indigenous group of North Africa, in Morocco and more than half of its population speak Arabic.
HUS Agadir was founded on 22 December 1946 by a group of patriots who opposed French colonialism, chose the red and white colours and named the club El Hassania to symbolise their Moroccan identity. The colonial French rejected the club’s establishment, but it was re-established in 1956 when Morocco gained independence. However, disaster struck four years later as the club’s players were among the victims of a huge earthquake that killed thousands of people. The club restructured but never really challenged the nation’s elite until the early 2000s, when a golden generation claimed its first domestic title in 2002 and defended it in 2003. However, HUS Agadir hasn’t won the league again since then, nor has it won any other major trophies. It plays at the 45,840-capacity Stade Adrar, supported by basic youth facilities, fairly basic youth recruitment, adequate training facilities and average academy coaching.
HUS Agadir were predicted to finish 8th in Botola Pro 1, but lost their last 7 games and were relegated by losing the promotion/relegation playoff. Predictably, the club was in a mess financially, over £500k in the red and spending £4,500 over the £17k weekly wage budget. They of course had a mass of players wanting to leave due to relegation, so Mahtal oversaw a firesale of 14 players for £1.2m, which slashed £15k off the wage bill.
Mahtal had a familiar face among the squad in former Horoya goalkeeper Bassala Dieng. Despite wanting to leave, he was among the best players remaining alongside winger Pascal Ndayishimiye (Ndayi), who’d requested to leave even though he was out of contract, attackers Yassine Ahcha, Ayoub Hafiane and Zakaria Tahri, left back/midfielder Badr Azeroual and 6ft 5in 17-year-old winger Hamza Azaouagh. There was plenty more potential in full back Ahmed Idrissi, mifielder Wail Abaaziz, striker Younes Sakhi and centre backs Ayoub El Haddoudi and Tarik Bedraoui.
Mahtal had the opposite challenge he’d encountered upon arriving in Niger, in that Agadir had an overload of attackers and only two centre backs. However, he had to add to that when 20-year-old Brazilian free agent striker Jair Alves somehow popped up on his scouting update and he signed on a pretty sizeable wage, but looked worth every penny – especially as the coaches already consider him a leading top-tier striker. However, the transfer window randomly ended over a month before the season began, leaving him with no chance of bolstering his defence.
Mahtal opted to go for a fairly attacking approach with Ahcha playmaking in midfield and Azaouagh, Hafiane and Ndayi in behind the main man Alves. But a lack of defensive options could be problematic if they picked up any injuries.
Getting Started in Morocco
The Moroccan bookies made HUS Agadir 1/2 favourites to win Botola 2, along with MC Oujda (5/4), Renaissance Zemamra (3/1), Yacoub Mansour (7/2), SCC Mohammedia (11/2) and JS Massira (15/2).
Mahtal’s reign began with a home game against Kasba Tadla, who’re predicted to finish 15th out of 16, and debutant Idrissi and 18-year-old winger Hamza El Hachimi’s first senior goal earned a comfortable 2-0 win in which Alves missed a hatful of chances. A big first away day took them to Zemamra and a tight game was decided by Ahcha’s 70th-minute volley, swiftly followed by hosting Oujda and an easy 2-0 win led by Ahcha’s brace led Mahtal to think they could win this league at a canter.
Alves got his first goal in a 3-2 win at Khouribga, which sent Agadir top of Botola 2 for the first time before bagging a brace in a 2-1 victory at Tihad. The good start continued, only dropping points in a 0-0 at Salé, before the excellent Azaouagh scored twice with an Ndayi assist hat trick in a 5-0 away thrashing of Mohammedia that took them 6 points clear of 2nd and 12 points clear of 3rd after 11 games. And a new club record 6 clean sheets left them 10 points clear at the halfway point of the season.
Agadir finally lost 1-0 with an injury-hit side at home to Zemamra in match 16. But Alves scored the only goal in a wasteful victory at Kasba Tadla before Ahcha’s brace led a 5-1 hamering of Khouribga and five different scorers in a 5-0 win at Kénitra. Alves scored twice in a 3-0 win at Khemisset, which wrapped up promotion with 6 games remaining. And a week later, on 21 March, another Alves brace earned a 2-0 win over Salé and they lifted the Botola 2 title in front of a new club record 23,000 home supporters.
HUS Agadir went on to destroy Botola 2, winning the league by a huge 29 points and setting new league records with 80 points (bettering FUS Rabat’s 66 in 2008) and 73 goals (bettering IR Tanger’s 55), and only dropping points 3 times all season. Alves was the 2nd top scorer with 20 in 29, closely followed by Azaouagh’s 18 in 29 and Ahcha’s 12 in 29. But Ndayi was the clear player of the season, topping the charts with an impressive 25 assists, 6.03 key passes per match, 66 chances created and 8.19 rating, while Dieng set a new league record with 20 clean sheets and Azaouagh won the young player of the year.
HUS Agadir Return to Morocco’s Top Tier
Mahtal moved quickly to strengthen, including two attackers from his former side Génération Foot, exciting attacker Abdou Razak Basséle and winger Alpha Ba. He also added several backup Moroccans to bolster squad depth led by midfielder Youssef El Mourabit for £20k from Zemamra.
Mahtal stuck with the tactic that worked well last season, while being reticent that he may need to take a more cautious approach. El Haddoudi will move up to a more defensive minded holding role with Idrissi moving into centre back and loanee Etayebb Nassik coming in at right back. The attack remains the same -including Ndayi who is somehow still at the club despite being unhappy, angry at Mahtal for “breaking promises” and out of contract – with Basséle providing backup to the rapidly improving Azaouagh and Alves.
HUS Agadir were predicted to finish 8th in Botola Pro 1, the 4th-most reputable league in Africa behind the top tiers in Egypt, South Africa and Tunisia, with title odds of 50/1. RS Berkane are 2/1 favourites, followed by MAS Fés (7/2), Wydad Casablanca (11/2), FAR Rabat (6/1), holders Raja Casablanca (12/1) and US Touarga (16/1).
They returned to the top tier with a trip to Wydad Fés and struggled early on, going behind after 12 minutes. But Mahtal fired the boys up at the break and got his reward through a delicious Azaouagh finish and, with the game drifting to a draw and after Ahcha and El Mourabit were kicked out of the game, Alves popped up at the near post to convert Ndayi’s low cross. Both midfielders were ruled out for two months, but young Abaaziz came in and scored the opener before Azeraoul’s penalty secured a 2-0 win at home to RAC Casablanca.
A massive test followed with a trip to Raja, and Agadir were a little unlucky to fall 2-0 behind. But Alves nicked a goal back and Mahtal went for it, which paid off as a defensive howler put Alves clean through on goal in the 91st minute and he coolly slotted past the keeper to nick an impressive point. That gave them a huge amount of confidence, which showed as an Ndayi hat trick, with his mighty 6 finishing, inspired an equally impressive 3-1 victory at home to Touarga. And the good start was enhanced by Azaouagh scoring the only goal at MAS Fés, who beat them 5-0 in the cup last season.
Azaouagh’s superb start to the campaign earned him a new 4-year deal, which he celebrated by scoring twice in a dominant 3-0 victory at Tétouan. But the biggest result so far saw Alves score the only goal at home to title favourites Berkane to send his side top of the league for the first time. A huge game saw them entertain 2nd-place FAR Rabat 3 days later, and Alves again scored the only goal to take Agadir 6 points clear. Mahtal was absolutely loving this young team, which felt almost unbeatable at this point. However, that soon ended as the fell to a tame 3-1 defeat at Wydad.
Mahtal rang the changes in response to that defeat and Basséle scored on his full debut before Azaouagh, who’d been labelled “Awesome Azaouagh” by the press, bagged a brace to complete a 5-1 hammering of Stade Marocain. And Agadir took a surprise 4-point lead into a six-week break.
Advantage Agadir in Tight Title Race
2038 began with Azaouagh rescuing a 1-1 for a very rusty side at KAC Marrakech, which led the media to now hail him “Almighty Azaouagh.” He scored again after 6ft 4in 18-year-old right winger Hicham Diouri’s first senior goal opened the scoring at home to DH El Jadida. But a 1-1 at RAC saw the lead cut to just 1 point, before Basséle replaced the tired Azaouagh and scored the winner at home to MAS Fés, Ahcha’s penalty nicked a 1-0 at home to Wydad Fés and Ahcha and Alves earned a comfortable 2-0 win at home to Raja. And that strong run opened up a 6-point lead with 10 games remaining.
Two huge games saw Agadir travel to 4th-place FUS Rabat and 3rd-place Berkane. First up, at FUS, they put in arguably their best performance yet. An even first half looked like ending 0-0, but Alves won a penalty that Azeroual converted and 90 seconds later turned in a cross from Diouri, who’d replaced the injured Ndayi, to earn a vital 2-1 victory. Two weeks later, they travelled to the title favourites and an 11-game unbeaten streak crumbled with a 3-1 defeat.
Agadir were now 5 points clear of FAR, who led Barkane by 1 point and city rivals FUS by 4 points with 7 games remaining. They bounced back in style as Alves, Azaouagh and a late Tahri strike earned a 3-0 victory at home to Massira. But another tricky away day took them to FAR – meaning they’d gone away to their 3 title rivals in the last 5 games – and struggled in the first half. But a stern talking to worked wonders and Nassik’s first goal for the club and a late Azeroual penalty earned a potentially pivotal point.
As a result, a tight title race saw Agadir leading Berkane by 4 points and just 7 points splitting the top 4 going into the final 5 games. But, having played the big 3 challengers, Agadir did have a slightly more friendly run-in.
Game 26 – Wydad Casablanca (5th, home): That said, the title race kicked off at home to record 20-time Moroccan champions Wydad. The two sides served up a thriller with a combined 35 shots, and Azaouagh scored early on only for the visitors to score twice in 4 minutes. But the hosts rescued a point as Alves converted Ndayi’s cross after an hour. Berkane won 4-2 at Wydad Fés, FAR won 1-0 at KAC and FUS drew 1-1 at Raja, which cut Agadir’s lead to 2 points.
Game 27 – Stade Marocain (9th, away): Ahcha’s early goal was the difference as a solid defensive effort earned a 1-0 win at Marocain. Berkane won a 6th successive game, FAR won their 6th in 7 games with a 97th-minute winner and FUS beat Touarga 4-0, keeping Agadir 2 points ahead of Berkane, 3 clear of FAR and probably dropping FUS out of the race.
Game 28 – Béni Mallal (16th, away): A relegated side against top of the league. What could possibly go wrong? In this case, not much, as the Azaouagh lived up to his almighty moniker with a magnificent first half hat trick before Ndayi wrapped up a straightforward 4-1 victory. Berkane finally dropped points with a 3-1 defeat Raja and FAR only drew 0-0 at Wydad Fés, leaving both sides 5 points behind Agadir with 2 games remaining.
Game 29 – KAC Marrakech (15th, home): Agadir had a shot at securing the title as they welcomed relegation-battling KAC to Stade Adrar, which saw a new record attendance of 30,725. A raucous atmosphere helped Agadir come out flying with 4 shots in the first 3 minutes and 10 inside half an hour. But, despite 12 shots to 1 and 72% of possession, they went in at 0-0. Mahtal went more direct and attacking, they continued to dominate and finally got their reward as Azaouagh recycled a cross and a neat one-two between El Mourabi and El Haddoudi teed up the latter for his first senior goal with a very neatly taken 20-yarder. The lead was swiftlty doubled when Ahcha slid Alves through to smash past the keeper before converting Azaouagh’s clever headed flick for a third. And a dominant display secured an unexpected title.
HUS Agadir were Champions of Morocco in their first season back in Botola Pro 1!
Azaouagh starred again with a brace as they wrapped up with a 3-1 win at El Jadida. That saw Agadir win the title by 9 points from FUS Rabat, finishing on 70 points after 21 wins, 7 draws and just 2 defeats, scoring 58 and conceding a league-low 24. Azaouagh and Alves were 3rd-top scorers with 17 apiece and Ndayi and Ahcha got the 3rd-most assists with 11 each. Ndayi set a new league record 7.61 rating and won player of the year, while Azaouagh won rookie of the year and Mahtal claimed manager of the year.
Mahtal Celebrates Surprise Title Success
Mahtal had worked wonders at HUS Agadir, rebuilding a relegated side and developing their exciting youngsters to build a side that defeated Morocco’s best with a surprise title win. The almighty Azaouagh was undoubtedly the star man this season, scoring 17 with 5 assists and a 7.53 rating in 28 games. Alves also scored 17, but nobody else scored more than 5, and Ndayi and Ahcha provided a club-high 11 assists.
Mahtal had absolutely loved his time at Agadir, which was probably his favourite club on this journey so far given the exciting young talent available to him. However, he knew that the title success was the end of the road in Morocco and he needed to go in search of a new challenge and an 11th club.
Where would Mahtal end up as he departed Morocco? Join us on Monday to find out!
Leave a comment