The 2024–25 season, is MC Alger's 56th season and the club's 21st consecutive season in the top flight of Algerian football. In addition to the domestic league, MC Alger are participating in the Algerian Cup, Super Cup and the Champions League. On June 27, 2024 The federal office approved the calendar for the 2024–25 Ligue 1 season with the aim of ending on May 31, 2025. The first round is scheduled for September 14, this delay is motivated both by an extended end of the 2023–24 season but also by the holding of early presidential elections which will take place on September 7, 2024.[3][4] However, the Ligue de Football Professionnel decided to postpone the start of the Ligue 1 by a week, on September 21.[5]
Review
Background
On June 17, 2024, RMC Sport announced Paris Saint-Germain’s denial regarding the partnership that was to be announced as having been signed with MC Alger. The latter announced a meeting between Fabien Delem, the senior executive director of Paris SG and the one responsible for commercial strategy in the Middle East and North Africa region. This meeting was organized by the Qatari telephone company Ooredoo, the official sponsor of the two teams.[6] On June 27, during the federal office meeting it was announced that the Super Cup, which had been absent since 2020.[7] On July 3, 2024, Ali La Pointe Stadium in Douera was officially inaugurated by the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune. The stadium should host MC Alger matches from the start of the 2024–25 season.[8]
On July 7, MC Alger announced via its official Facebook page, the renewal of Patrice Beaumelle’s contract until 2025. The new contract provides for a salary increase and new objectives on the national and African level, namely the Ligue 1 champion title and at least the group stage of the CAF Champions League.[9][10] On July 15, Patrice Beaumelle responded positively to the request of players who want to benefit from a few extra days of rest before the start of the season, which promises to be long and exhausting with participation in four different competitions. Where did the technical staff decide to return to training on July 24.[11] On July 24, the owner of MC Alger Sonatrach has refused the resignation of the president of the CA Mohamed Hakim Hadj Redjem. In a press release published on the club's official Facebook page. Hachichi asked him to continue the Mouloudia sports project. The CEO of Sonatrach praised the efforts of the president who led the team to win the championship title last season.[12]
Following urgent requests from certain clubs, the Algerian Football Federation has decided to increase the number of foreign players in the Ligue 1.[13] After having formally passed through the technical college chaired by Rabah Saâdane, the FAF ratified the increase in the number of foreigners per club from 3 to 5. However, that there is a provision intended to serve as a safeguard for the license of a foreign player or coach to be validated, the club must pay the federation a deposit equivalent to 12 months salary.[13] This is to protect against any financial dispute.[13] MC Alger flew to France on July 27 to begin its training camp without its Algerian international Youcef Belaïli. The Oran native decided to skip training and not take part in the training camp that take place in Rennes, following the decision of the club's management not to extend the contract of Farès Belaïli, his brother.[14]Sonatrach, the company that owns the shares of the MC Alger, has announced the signing of an agreement with the Amateur Sports Club (CSA). According to a press release published on the official Sonatrach Facebook page, a meeting was held at the company's headquarters bringing together the group's secretary general Abdelkader Zerrouki, the chairman of the board of directors Mohamed Hakim Hadj-Redjem and the chairman of the Amateur Sports Club Mohamed Khaldi. With the signing of this agreement, MC Alger will be able to recover the licenses and the qualification of the players in anticipation of the new season.[15]
First-team transfers (summer transfer window)
Algerian international Andy Delort joins Mouloudia for three seasons for 1.5 million euros, coming from Umm Salal SC of Qatar.
On July 8, 2024, Zakaria Draoui has officially signed up with Mouloudia as the first summer recruit. Where he signed a contract for three seasons for an extraordinary monthly salary of 8 million DA, coming from Wydad AC, which terminated his contract with him.[16][17] On the same day, the 1.98' international Toufik Moussaoui, who spent a large part of his career at Paradou AC, signed a contract for three seasons and will be the first choice goalkeeper in front of Abdelatif Ramdane while Oussama Litim does not have the confidence of the coaching staff.[18] The next day, Ivorian striker Kipre Junior arrived in Algeria to sign his contract for four seasons, coming from the Tanzanian club Azam, and his discharge paper amounted to 230 thousand euros.[19][20] On July 21, after a long wait that lasted nearly a month, Khayreddine Merzougui was about to join the elite team. Merzougui met with Hadj Redjem to discuss continuing their joint adventure. As a result of these races, Merzougui will remain at MC Alger for an additional season, but this became possible after agreeing to make concessions on the financial level.[21]
On July 27, Mouloudia d'Alger signed a contract with Ivorian defender Serge Badjo for three seasons coming from FC d'Abobo, Badjo is therefore the fourth Mouloudean recruit since the start of the transfer window.[22] On July 28, MC Alger announced in an official press release that it had accepted the offer submitted by Espérance de Tunis for Youcef Belaïli. The leaders of Mouloudia decided to take this decision after the recent problems caused by Belaïli's entourage. After only one season with Mouloudia d'Alger, Belaïli decided to leave the Algerian Ligue 1 and return to Espérance.[23] Algerian international Andy Delort moved to Algeria on September 8 with the aim of completing his transfer to Mouloudia d'Alger. The board of directors of Mouloudia d'Alger met with Delort and his advisor, but Delort had a €2 million release clause from Umm Salal SC, and was therefore not free to sign wherever he wanted. After studying the matter, the session was adjourned without reaching a solution.[24] On September 10, Delort signed a three-year contract with Mouloudia and Umm Salal SC will eventually receive 1.5 million euros distributed over three years at a rate of 500 thousand euros per year.[25][26]
Start of season
The season started in the first round of the African Cup against Liberia's Watanga, and after an agreement between the two clubs, it was decided to play both matches in Algeria.[27] In the first leg at the Nelson Mandela Stadium, MC Alger won with two goals scored by Draoui and Kipre.[28] The second leg was moved to the Mustapha Tchaker Stadium and will be played behind closed doors. Because the pitch at Mandela Stadium was very poor, CAF decided to move this match to Blida.[29] Mouloudia won again with the same result to qualify for the next round easily.[30] Mouloudia d’Alger lost the first leg of the second qualifying round for the group stage of the Champions League, against US Monastir in Tunis. The only goal of the match was scored by Ghezala against his own goal.[31] MC Alger in its new Ali La Pointe Stadium managed to win in a difficult situation with a score of 2–0 in order to qualify for the group stage.[32]
Before the match started, there were problems between the fans and the Gendarmerie Nationale, who were in charge of managing the match instead of the Police, as is the usual. The first problem was opening one door for entry instead of the 13 that were in place. During the match, in the last quarter, violence broke out in the stands between the Gendarmerie Nationale and the fans, which saw some chairs being broken and tear gas ending up on the pitch.[33][34] The new Ali La Pointe Stadium has reportedly been closed until further notice. This decision follows incidents that occurred during the match between MC Alger and US Monastir, to the point that a tear gas bomb was thrown onto the pitch, causing general chaos. The temporary closure of the stadium is intended to allow a thorough investigation to determine the causes of the disturbances and to put in place the necessary measures to prevent such incidents from happening again.[35]
On November 24, the Confederation of African Football announced a major penalty following the events that took place against US Monastir. CAF has decided to impose four matches behind closed doors, two of which are suspended. This suspension is accompanied by a fine of $50,000. The two remaining matches will be automatically activated if other similar incidents occur in the next 12 months.[36] Following the serious incidents that marred the derby match against CR Belouizdad on November 20, 2024, the Disciplinary Committee punished the two teams. After postponing its decision until the end of its meeting on November 25, and after studying other documents, in particular videos, the committee punished the team by ordering it to play four matches behind closed doors, two of which were suspended. It will also have to pay 200,000 DZD, not counting the financial compensation that the stadium manager will request.[37]
Squad list
Players and squad numbers last updated on 5 July 2024.[38][39] Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.
In the qualifying rounds, each tie will be played on a home-and-away two-legged basis. If the aggregate score will be tied after the second leg, the away goals rule was applied, and if still tied, extra time will not be played, and the penalty shoot-out will be used to determine the winner (Regulations III. 13 & 14). The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 11 July 2024, 12:00 GMT (15:00 local time, UTC+3), at the CAF headquarters in Cairo, Egypt.[57]
The draw for the group stage was held on 7 October 2024, 11:00 GMT (14:00 local time, UTC+3), in Cairo, Egypt.[59] The 16 winners of the second round of qualifying rounds were drawn into four groups of four. The teams were seeded by their performances in the CAF competitions for the previous five seasons (CAF 5-year ranking points shown next to every team). Each group contains one team from each of Pot 1, Pot 2, Pot 3, and Pot 4, and each team were allocated to the positions in their group according to their pot.
^The match between USM Alger and MC Alger is postponed from November 2 to November 5, 2024, due to preparations for the festivities of November 1 and the celebration of the 70th anniversary of the outbreak of the revolution.[55] Then on October 27, it was postponed to a later date.[56]
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