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Renaissance Sportive De Berkane has been crowned CAF Confederation Cup champions, clinching their first continental title in the club’s history.
 
The Moroccan club beat Egyptians Pyramids 1-0 in Sunday’s final at Moulay Abdellah stadium in Rabat.

Burkinabi defender Youssoufa Dayou was behind the only goal of the Moroccans after 15 minutes.

“Last years’ experience in the same competition taught us a lot of lessons,” left-back Mohamed Aziz.

“This year we have fought until we reached the final game which reminded us of the last season’s final that we lost in Egypt against Zamalek on penalties. As you have seen, we deserved our win tonight and I say congratulations to all my team and to all its staff and members.”

What was remarkable in Sunday’s match is the number of cards that Cameroonian referee Niante Alyoum dished out to both sides. By the end of the first half, that number reached five yellow cards before it increased to eight at the end of the game.

There was a red-card for Bakr El Hilali of Renaissance.

“It was a huge effort of 15 months. Last year we could not win the title after losing the final game, but this year we have worked hard to achieve this goal. I’d like to express my deep feelings and to thank all the fans of the club who could not be present today here with us”, Omar Namssaoui, right back of RSB told the media.

The players’ celebration was unforgettable at the Moulay Abdellah Stadium, which will certainly be remembered for years by the Berkani fans. RSB has previously won two domestic trophies in history on that ground.

“It was a hard and great work that the club has done for a few years and hard work always pays. I should thank all supports of the RSB who believed in us. This is just the beginning of other titles. Congratulations to Moroccan football too for tonight’s title”, added Amine El Kass, one of RSB’s key players.

This new title is the outcome of years of hard work for RBS. It would not have been achieved without the good management and governance of current team’s leadership, including its new president as well as that of national federation boss Fouzi Lekjaa, who was the club’s president until last year.

The CAF Cup won by Renaissance Sportive De Berkane is the seventh of its kind for Moroccan football, and the fifth if the new format of the competition is being considered.