USM Alger is a football club based in Algiers, Algeria that competes in Ligue 1, the most senior football league in Algeria. Since its founding in 1937, the club has had 19 different presidents, And the first president of the club is Arezki Meddad. As for the longest period as president was Saïd Allik for 16 years during which he achieved 9 titles.
History
![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ac/La_mort_du_pr%C3%A9sident_du_club_Arezki_Meddad_sur_L%27Echo_d%27Alger.jpg/300px-La_mort_du_pr%C3%A9sident_du_club_Arezki_Meddad_sur_L%27Echo_d%27Alger.jpg)
Founder member of the club, Arezki Meddad is chosen by his peers to be the first president in the history of USMA. Arezki Meddad was the first president, but he has not been included in the prefecture. It's in his coffee, rue du Divan in the Casbah - which also housed the headquarters of the Étoile Nord-Africaine - that was created USMA. The first president was officially registered on Ali Shahid Hammar said "Ali Zaied" tortured to death in March 1957, the club was in time for the official address of coffee Benkanoun located Randon street in the Casbah. On July 5, 1987 USK Alger celebrated its 50th anniversary and the opportunity to bring everyone together has not been seized. Many of these people did not participate in this celebration. From the founding father Sid Ahmed Kemmat to the sympathetic son like Boualem Rahma the Chaabi singer, However they forgot many faces that presented to the club that the reasons the party was not complete.[1]
Saïd Allik era
In 1994 Saïd Allik became Chairman of the Board of Directors of USM Alger and promised to return the team to Division 1, On May 26, 1995 USM Alger won against MC Ouargla and achieved a promotion challenge back to the Division 1 after five full seasons, Allik announce that USM Alger has returned to its normal place and will not fall again to the second division, In the first season in Division 1 Allik won the first title in 33 years and the second in USM Alger history.[2] in the following season, Alik signed a contract with the JS Kabylie duo, Tarek Hadj Adlane the former player of Al Ittihad and Mahieddine Meftah the African Cup of Nations champion with Algeria national team and because of it a great enmity began between Allik and Mohand Chérif Hannachi. From 2005 to 2010, the worst of Saïd Allik's period, where USM Alger's level declined and did not achieve any title and contented itself with playing the cup final twice against traditional rivals MC Alger and was defeated in both of them, their first final defeat since 1980.[3][4] It is said that the biggest reason for this decline is the support of Saïd Allik for Ali Benflis in the presidential election against President Abdelaziz Bouteflika at the time. On October 27, 2010, Haddad replaced Saïd Allik as president and owner of the club.[5] Allik had been the club's president for the past 16 years.
ETRHB Haddad era
I want to make this club the best in the country. The USMA is a great team and we will naturally have to play to win titles, that's the least. Personally, I will do my best to ensure that the club does not miss anything on a daily basis. We have many projects and we are very keen to achieve them.
— Ali Haddad a statement about his ambitions with the team.[6]
On August 4, 2010, USM Alger went public in conjunction with the professionalization of the domestic league.[7] Algerian businessman Ali Haddad became the majority share owner after investing 700 million Algeria dinars to buy an 83% ownership in the club to become the first professional club in Algeria.[8][9] On October 27, 2010, Haddad replaced Saïd Allik as president of the club.[10] Allik had been the club's president for the past 18 years, On 28 February 2018 Ali Haddad he changed his brother Rabouh from a post general manager by former international player and former ES Setif president Abdelhakim Serrar.[11] After the outbreak of protests in Algeria and the arrest of club owner Ali Haddad on corruption charges.[12] On April 30, 2019 The board of the SSPA USMA met and noted the vacancy of the post of president of the company since the incarceration of Ali Haddad there is nearly a month. It was Boualem Chendri who was unanimously elected to succeed him while ETRHB Haddad remains the majority shareholder of the club.[13]
Groupe SERPORT era
On June 2, 2019 it is official, the Haddad family is selling its shares in SSPA USMA which it holds 92%, It was the club's communication officer, Amine Tirmane, who announced it on the Echourouk TV.[14] the reasons that made them make this decision is the imprisonment of club owner Ali Haddad and also freeze all financial accounts of the club. After it was expected that the general assembly of shareholders will be on March 12, 2020 it was submitted to March 2, especially after the imprisonment of the former club president, Rabouh Haddad. The meeting witnessed the attendance of ETRHB Haddad representative and the absence of the amateur club president Saïd Allik, and after two and a half hours, it was announced that Groupe SERPORT had bought the shares of ETRHB Haddad which amounted to 94.34%.[15][16]
On July 31, 2020 general manager Abdelghani Haddi spoke about some newspapers and responded to them and the fake news about the value of buying USM Alger's shares, where he said that the amount was 2 billion dinars about 13 million euros.,[17] for information SERPORT is a holding company which manages the State's holdings in Algerian port services. It generates a turnover of nearly 500 million euros per year, for a net profit which oscillates between 25 and 40 million euros.[18] On September 10, 2021 Saadi Yacef passed away at the age of 93, who was one of the leaders of Algeria's National Liberation Front during his country's war of independence, president of the club in the seventies and honorary president.[19][20] Asked on National Radio about a possible withdrawal from Groupe SERPORT, Achour Djelloul assured that the public company had no intention of separating from USM Alger.[21] On May 12, 2022 Djelloul was dismissed from his post after the scandal of the exit of containers of Hyundai cars imported by the Tahkout company in 2019, and was replaced by the former CEO of l’entreprise portuaire d’annaba (EPAN) Abdelkarim Harkati temporarily.[22][23]
On January 2, 2024, After consultation between its various members, USM Alger announced that it had terminated the functions of the club's sports manager Taoufik Korichi with immediate effect without specifying the reasons for this decision.[24] However two days later the majority shareholder of SSPA/USMA Groupe SERPORT has made changes at the head of the club’s management, and during the meeting of the board of directors held it was decided to appoint Hacen Hassina new president of the board in place of Sid Ahmed Arab.[25] Furthermore Abdelmadjid Rezkane is the new CEO of SSPA/USMA, while Farid Sefar advisor to the former President of the CA was dismissed from his position. Immediately after that Korichi returned to his position as sports director by decision of Harkati.[25][26]
List of presidents
![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/88/Saadi_Yacef_1966.jpg/200px-Saadi_Yacef_1966.jpg)
![](Https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/83/Ali_Haddad_2018.jpg/250px-Ali_Haddad_2018.jpg)
Name | From | To | Honours (total number) |
---|---|---|---|
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5 July 1937 | 1938 | |
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1938 | 1939 | |
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1940 | 2 April 1942[27] | |
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1942 | 194? | |
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15 August 1949 | 194? | |
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194? | 1952 | |
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1962 | 1963 | 1 Ligue 1 (1) |
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1963 | 1971 | |
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1971 | 1972 | |
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1972 | 1975 | |
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1975 | 1976 | |
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1976 | 1977 | |
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1977 | 19?? | 1 Algerian Cup (1) |
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19?? | 1984 | |
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1985 | 1989 | 1 Algerian Cup (1) |
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1989 | 1991 | |
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1992 | 1993 | |
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1993 | 1994 | |
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1994 | 4 August 2010 | 4 Ligue 1, 5 Algerian Cup (9) |
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4 August 2010 | 30 April 2019 | 3 Ligue 1, 1 Algerian Cup, 2 Super Cup, 1 UAFA Cup (7) |
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30 April 2019 | 2 March 2020 | |
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2 March 2020 | 13 May 2022 | |
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13 May 2022 | present | 1 Confederation Cup, 1 CAF Super Cup (2) |
References
- ^ "Merci M. Kemmat , l'humilité n'est pas qu'un simple mot dans votre bouche". usm-alger.com. 18 January 2009. Retrieved 24 November 2021.
- ^ "تاريخ اتحاد الجزائر ... العودة إلى الصفر بعد سبعة نجوم". djazairess.com. 26 April 2013. Retrieved 24 September 2021.
- ^ "42e finale de la coupe d'Algérie, aujourd'hui à 17h au stade du 5 juillet" (in French). djazairess.com. June 15, 2006. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- ^ "Historique des trois finales de 1971, 1973 et 2006" (in French). djazairess.com. June 28, 2007. Retrieved January 12, 2020.
- ^ Saïd Allik se retire de l’USM Alger Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "USM Alger : Ali Haddad nouveau patron des rouge et noir". depechedekabylie. 6 August 2010. Retrieved 9 March 2017.
- ^ Cérémonie au Sheraton Aujourd’hui, l'USMA sera pro Archived 2012-03-18 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ USM Alger : Ali Haddad nouveau patron des rouge et noir
- ^ "إتحاد العاصمة يدخل الاحتراف من الباب الواسع ب 70 مليار". djazairess.com. 5 August 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2017.
- ^ Saïd Allik se retire de l’USM Alger Archived 2012-03-25 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "USM Alger : Ali Haddad limoge son frère et nomme Serrar nouveau DG". alg24.net. Retrieved 28 February 2018.
- ^ "Exclusif : Ali Haddad arrêté au poste frontalier d'Oum Teboul". elwatan.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "USMA : Ali Haddad n'est plus président". dzfoot.com. Retrieved 30 April 2019.
- ^ "USMA : Les Haddad officiellement vendeurs". dzfoot.com. Retrieved 3 June 2019.
- ^ "USMA : Serport acquiert 94,34% des actions". DZFoot.com. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- ^ "USMA : Le Groupe Serport prend officiellement le pouvoir". competition.dz. Retrieved 3 March 2020.
- ^ "USMA : Haddi, " Serport a mis 20 millions d'€ "". DZFoot.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ "USMA : Haddi, " Serport a mis 20 millions d'€ "". DZFoot.com. 1 August 2020. Retrieved 3 August 2020.
- ^ "yacef saâdi est mort : un grand nom de le révolution s'éteint". algerie360.com. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 10 September 2021.
- ^ "Décès de Yacef Saadi, l'un des symboles et architectes de la Bataille d'Alger". aps.dz. 11 September 2021. Retrieved 13 September 2021.
- ^ "USM Alger : Serport limoge Hocine Achiou". dzfoot.com. 16 April 2022. Retrieved 16 April 2022.
- ^ "Scandale du port de Mostaganem : fin de fonctions du PDG du groupe Serport". algerie-eco.com. 13 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
- ^ "Affaire Tahkout : Achour Djelloul, P-DG de Serport, limogé". algerie360.com. 13 May 2022. Retrieved 13 May 2022.
- ^ "USMA : Fin de mission pour Korichi". DZfoot. January 2, 2024. Retrieved January 3, 2024.
- ^ a b "USMA: Hassina remplace Arab, Sefar démis de ses fonctions". Competition. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ "USMA : " Serport " nomme de nouveaux DG et président du Conseil d'administration". Inter Lignes. 4 January 2024. Retrieved 4 January 2024.
- ^ The death of the club president Arezki Meddad, paru dans "L'Echo d'Alger", 31e année, N° 11562 daté du Vendredi 3 avril 1942, page 2.