Football in Algeria

Football in Algeria
Country	Algeria
Governing body	Algerian Football Federation
National team	national football team
Club competitions
Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1
International competitions
Champions League CAF Confederation Cup Super Cup FIFA Club World Cup FIFA World Cup(National Team) African Cup of Nations(National Team)

Football in Algeria is the country's most popular sport.^[1] The country's top domestic league is organised into two national divisions, the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 and the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 2, overseen by the Algerian Football Federation.

History

Beginning

On 5 February 1897, during the French Algeria era, the first Algerian club was formed in Oran. Club Athlétique Liberté d'Oran (CAL Oran), was founded by European settlers in the neighborhood Saint-Antoine of Oran under the name Club Athlétique d'Oran. It was followed in the same year by the Club des Joyeusetés d'Oran, also formed by European settlers in the neighborhood El-Derb of Oran. These are the first clubs in the country and all Africa.^[2] Other clubs will follow later, and will be created in various cities including Oran.

In 1898 was created the first Muslim club, CS Constantine was born in Constantine under the name of IKBAL Emancipation.^[3]

In 1911 the French Football Federation creates a North African Championship representing the third French division (honor league), which became an official competition in 1921 after creation in 1920 of the three regional leagues in Oran, Algiers and Constantine, the winner of each league qualify to a North African Championship.

After independence

The Algeria Football Federation was founded in 1963 in order to organize national competitions and international matches. The first national championship and the cup start immediately after independence in 1962.

Club football

List of football clubs in Algeria by major honours won

Below is a list of football clubs in Algeria. It contains all clubs that have played in different Algerian leagues divisions since 1962, the independence year of Algeria. However most of teams were founded before this year.

#	Club	Algeria				Maghreb		North Africa				Arab World			Africa					Inter.		Total
		L	C	SC	LC	CC	WC	NC	CC	WC	SC	CL	WC	SC	CL	CCC	SC	WC	CC	AAC	CWC
1	JS Kabylie	14	5	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	-	-	1	3	-	-	26
2	ES Sétif	7	8	1	-	-	-	-	1	1	1	2	-	-	2	-	1	-	-	1	-	25
3	MC Alger	7	8	3	2	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	23
4	USM Alger	7	8	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	18
5	CR Belouizdad	6	6	1	1	3	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	17
6	MC Oran	4	4	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	12
7	WA Tlemcen	-	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
8	USM El Harrach	1	2	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	3
9	NA Hussein-Dey	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
-	ASO Chlef	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
-	Hamra Annaba	1	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
12	RC Kouba	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
-	US Chaouia	1	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	2
14	CS Constantine	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
-	MO Constantine	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
-	GC Mascara	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
17	USM Bel-Abbès	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
-	JSM Béjaïa	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
-	MO Béjaïa	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
-	CR Béni Thour	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
-	JH Djazaïr	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1
-	MC Saïda	-	1	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	1

Legends

Algeria L Algerian Ligue 1 C Algerian Cup SC Algerian Super Cup LC Algerian League Cup Maghreb CC Maghreb Champions Cup WC Maghreb Cup Winners Cup North Africa NC UNAF Club Cup CC North African Cup of Champions WC North African Cup Winners Cup SC North African Super Cup

Arab World CL UAFA Club Cup WC Arab Cup Winners' Cup SC Arab Super Cup Africa CL CAF Champions League CCC CAF Confederation Cup SC CAF Super Cup WC African Cup Winners' Cup CC CAF Cup Inter-continental AAC Afro-Asian Club Championship CWC FIFA Club World Cup

National teams

FLN team

In 1958, a representative selection of Algeria's National Team (FLN football team) is secretly created by the National Liberation Front (FLN) to serve the cause of Algeria. it is composed essentially of professional players who play in the French league such Rachid Mekhloufi. The team played its first international game in a group test before its creation in 1957 in Tunis against Tunisia. Its played several friendly matches with high level national teams and clubs.

Algeria national team

After independence in 1962, Algeria's national team replace the FLN football team. This team saw its period of greatest success in the 1980s with great players such Lakhdar Belloumi, Rabah Madjer, Salah Assad. Algeria qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 1982 and 1986, 2010 and 2014 and qualified to second round in 2014 World Cup after defeating 4-2 South Korea and 1-1 drawing with Russia. The team was eliminated by Germany, crowned as champions by a 2-1 score at extra time.

During the 1982 tournament, Algeria managed a surprise defeat of West Germany in their first ever World Cup game and thus became the first African team to defeat European opposition at the World Cup, but were eliminated after the so-called "Shame of Gijón".^[4][5]

Due to Algeria's historic ties with France, there have been a number of Algerian players playing professionally in the French leagues, while the French national team has included players of Algerian heritage, most notably Zinedine Zidane, Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri.^[6]

Future for the Algerians Program

Stadiums in Algeria
Stade du 5 Juillet 1962 Capacity: 85,000  Stade 19 Mai 1956 Capacity: 58,000  Stade 24 Fevrier 1956 Capacity: 45,000  Stade Ahmed Zabana Capacity: 40,000  Stade Mohamed Hamlaoui Capacity: 40,000  Stade Mustapha Tchaker Capacity: 35,000

Clubs

References

1. "Sports in Algeria". Africa Profile. 2006. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
2. "Club de football d'Oran". footballogue.com. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
3. "L'histoire du Club Sportif Constantinois". Constantine: CS Constantine website. 2011. Retrieved 2012-01-04.
4. "World Cup Tales: The Shame Of Gijon, 1982". London: twohundredpercent. 9 May 2010. Retrieved 2010-12-30.
5. "The day in 1982 when the world wept for Algeria". London: The Guardian. 13 June 2010. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
6. "For Algeria, football remains a fault line with France". America.aljazeera.com. Retrieved 21 December 2014.