Wydad Athletic Club (Arabic: نادي الوداد الرياضي, Arabic pronunciation: [naːdiː‿l.widaːd arrːiyːadˤiː]), often known outside Morocco as Wydad Casablanca, is a Moroccan sports club based in Casablanca. Wydad AC is best known for its professional football team that competes in Botola Pro, the top tier of the Moroccan football league system. They are one of three clubs to have never been relegated from the top flight.

It was founded on 8 May 1937 by seven Moroccans belonging to the national movement for independence, led by Mohamed Benjelloun Touimi. They initially focused on water polo to give indigenous Moroccans the right to access swimming pools before Mohamed Ben Lahcen Affani – also known by the nickname of "Père Jégo" ("Father Jégo") – created the football section in 1939. He was the first manager of the team. The club has traditionally worn a red home kit since inception.

Domestically, Wydad has won a record of 22 Moroccan league titles, 9 Moroccan Throne Cup and one Independence Cup, becoming the most titled club in Morocco. In continental, international and regional competitions, the club has won three CAF Champions Leagues, one African Cup Winners' Cup, one CAF Super Cup, one Afro-Asian Club Championship, one Mohammed V Cup, one Arab Club Champions Cup, one Arab Super Cup, three North African Championship and one North African Cup.

The club also competes in basketball, Water polo, handball, volleyball, table tennis, field hockey, fencing, cycle sport, rugby, futsal and Wydad Women's football. The club holds many long-standing rivalries in Morocco with Raja CA, and with the capital side AS FAR.

The origin of the establishment of Wydad Athletic Club on resistance the colonialism that was imposed by the French authorities during the era of protectorate in Morocco, since before the independence of Morocco, the port of Casablanca was surrounded by a large number of swimming pools that were dedicated to clubs and sports associations only, and the Europeans were the ones who can supervise them. In beginning of the year 1935, many Moroccan Muslims and Jews joined several clubs to take advantage of the private swimming pools, but they were soon expelled by the colonizer because of their fear of an increase in their numbers later, and from here came the idea of establishing a Moroccan club by Moroccans only, so that the club can benefit of the swimming pools and participate in water polo competitions.

The idea of establishing Wydad Athletic Club was not as easy as it could be imagined, as all the members of the original core, including Hajj Mohamed Benjelloun Touimi and Hajj Dr. Abdellatif Benjelloun Touimi, suffered from the continued rejection and intransigence of the French authorities to the idea of establishing a “full Moroccan club”, which prompted them to resort to the Franco-Moroccan Association, in order to amend the matters related to registering the club's name, after which the General Resident in Morocco at the time, Maurice Nogues, personally intervened to allow the establishment of Wydad Athletic Club, but with specific conditions.

Wydad (وِداد) is an Arabic word that means "love", "sincere affection.", during the frequent meetings which led to the creation of the club, one of the founding members arrived late after watching the latest film of the legendary Egyptian actress and singer Umm Kulthum with the same name, though Latinized as Weddad, as it coincided with this answer that Zaghrouda set out from one of the neighboring houses to the meeting place, the attendees were optimistic about it, and Hajj Mohamed Ben Lahcen Affani expressed his support for choosing this name, but the intervention of some of the attendees led to a postponement for the final decision on the name of the club, except after the presence of a large number of managers and players, as the name was approved after holding a general gathering, the result was the suggestion and choice of the name "Wydad Athletic Club", as a name for the club without the inclusion of the word “Casablanca” because the club represents all Moroccans, not just the residents of the city of Casablanca.

Wydad played its first game against defending champion USM Casablanca as part of the first day of the championship in what is a criterion of war in September 1939. This meeting was the first of Wydad ended in defeat with a score of two goals to one. The first scorer was Abdelkader Lakhmiri. During this first season Wydad it was not a championship that was played but a true test of war called cutting war because of the Second World War. The first edition of this competition was played so in the context of the 1939–40 season and ended with a victory for the USM Casablanca facing the new team what Wydad. One who had played his first match against USM and had also faced rematch is still faced in the final after an incredible journey that has to qualify. The meeting was ended with a score of 1–0 at Stade Philippe to Casablanca. 1939–40: Champion of Chaouia League 1940: Winner of Moroccan Super Cup 1940: Runner-up of Moroccan Cup