USM Khenchela

USM Khenchela
Full name	Union sportive de la Médina Khenchela
Nickname(s)	Lions des Aurés - Ciskaoua
Founded	July 28, 1943; 81 years ago (as Union sportive de la Médina Khenchela)
Ground	Amar Hamam Stadium
Capacity	5,000
President	Walid Boukrouma
Head Coach	Hatem Missaoui
League	Ligue 1
2023–24	Ligue 1, 10th of 16
	Current season

Union Sportive de la Médina Khenchela (Arabic: الإتحاد الرياضي لمدينة خنشلة), known as USM Khenchela or simply USMK, is an Algerian professional football club based in Khenchela. The club was founded in 1943 and its colours are white and black. Their home stadium, Amar Hamam Stadium, has a capacity of 5,000 spectators. The club is currently playing in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1.

History

In 1970–71 Algerian Cup semi-finals in Khenchela against USM Alger who was not welcomed because of a word used by their supporters which is that Khenchela is “Shawiya” a term that has been misinterpreted and they prepared a hostile reception, and the match lasted four hours due to the storming to the stadium several times by the supporters.^[2] After the end of the match USM Alger players who were accompanied by a handful of fans, remained locked in the dressing rooms until midnight and after the intervention of a Gendarmerie brigade sent from Batna, then the Algerian Football Federation at that time punished the two clubs by playing 50 kilometers away from its stadium for one year.^[2] Khenchela saw the birth of another club that became known thanks to its good performances during the 1990s, at a time when USM Khenchela was struggling in the lower divisions, Ittihad Riadhi Baladiat Khenchela. created in 1985, Subsequently, the authorities decided to merge these two clubs into one, but the project fell through and a few years later IRBK ended up disappearing from the football scene after 28 years of existence.^[3]^[4]

The club was promoted for the 2010–11 season of the newly created Championnat National de Football Amateur due to the professionalisation of the first two divisions in Algeria.^[5]

On August 5, 2020, USM Khenchela were promoted to the Algerian Ligue 2.^[6]

Promotion to Ligue 1 for the first time

On May 21, 2022, USM Khenchela were promoted to the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 returns to the national elite that it left almost 50 years ago. The Ciskaoua will thus once again taste the sensations of the Ligue 1 where they had played for two seasons at the beginning of the 1970s.^[7] On February 2, 2023, an agreement was signed between Groupe Cosider and USM Khenchela, Under this agreement which covers a renewable year, the club will benefit from financial support during the 2022–23 sports season. This agreement initialed in the presence of the Wali of Khenchela, aims underlined the CEO of Cosider to support the evolution of the club through a sponsorship formula, under which Groupe Cosider will financially support all of the activities of USM Khenchela.^[8]

During the visit of the President of the Republic Abdelmadjid Tebboune on May 31, 2024, to Khenchela, he promised the leaders and fans of USM Khenchela to find a lessor capable of taking charge of L'USMK.^[9] The Algerian public telecommunications company Algérie Télécom, will apparently be the new owner of USM Khenchela, according to a post published on the club's official page. The club's president, Walid Boukrouma, said that "preliminary discussions addressing the aspects of the transfer of ownership of the club to this national company have already been initiated with its CEO, stressing that the realization of this acquisition will not happen overnight. It will take a few months to finalize all the necessary administrative procedures.^[10]

On August 1, 2024, Algérie Télécom and Union Sportive de la Médina Khenchela have signed a partnership agreement, making Algérie Télécom the official sponsor.^[11] The signing ceremony took place at the headquarters of the General Directorate of Algérie Télécom in Algiers, in the presence of the Chairman and CEO of Algérie Télécom and the President of USM Khenchela Walid Boukrouma.^[11] Knowing that Algérie Télécom has started procedures to buy the club, this partnership is part of a global approach aimed at supporting the club in the development and strengthening of its capacities for the 2024–25 season.^[11]

Players

Algerian teams are limited to three foreign players. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player;

Current squad

As of 5 February 2024^[update]^[12]^[13] Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
1	GK	ALG	Oussama Filali
5	DF	ALG	Nabil Saâdou
6	DF	ALG	Hocine Laribi
7	FW	ALG	Chouaib Debbih
8	MF	ALG	Abdelhakim Sameur (captain)
9	FW	ALG	Ilyes Yaiche
10	MF	ALG	Mohamed Yassine Athmani
11	MF	ALG	Hacène Ogbi
12	DF	ALG	Oussama Kaddour
13	FW	ALG	Mohamed Amine Semahi
14	FW	MLI	Diadié Samadiaré


No.	Pos.	Nation	Player
16	GK	ALG	Sofiane Khedairia
17	FW	ALG	Karim Sabouni
18	MF	ALG	Ahmed Gagaâ
20	FW	NGA	Tosin Omoyele
21	DF	ALG	Hamza Rebai
22	DF	ALG	Mohamed Guemroud
24	MF	MLI	Moussa Coulibaly
25	DF	ALG	Abdelhafid Hoggas
26	DF	ALG	Abdellah Meddah
27	MF	ALG	Sid Ali Lamri

Personnel

Current technical staff

Position	Staff
Head coach	Hatem Missaoui
Assistant coach
Goalkeeping coach
Fitness coach

Statistics

Recent seasons

Season	League									Cup	Other	Africa	Top goalscorer(s)^{[note 1]}		Ref.
Season	Division	Pos	Pts	P	W	D	L	GF	GA	Cup	Other	Africa	Name	Goals
1962–63	Critérium d'Honneur	2nd	42	18	10	4	4			Unknown
1963–64	Division d'Honneur	3rd		14						Round of 16
1964–65	Division d'Honneur	11th		26						Round of 32
1965–66	Division d'Honneur	7th		30						Round of 32
1966–67	Division d'Honneur									Unknown
1967–68	Division d'Honneur	1st								Unknown
1968–69	Nationale II	6th	42	22	6	8	8	25	29	Round of 64
1969–70	Nationale II	6th	44	22	7	8	7	27	27	Round of 32
1970–71	Nationale II	3rd	51	24	10	7	7	24	20	Semi-finals
1971–72	Nationale II									Unknown
1972–73	National II	3rd	60	26	14	6	6	44	20	Unknown
1973–74	National II	1st	51	22	15	6	1	35	11	Unknown
1974–75	Nationale I	11th	57	30	11	5	14	24	40	Round of 64
1975–76	Nationale I	14th	47	30	4	9	17	28	53	Round of 16
1976–77	Nationale II	2nd	26							Round of 16
1977–78	Division 2	2nd	26							Unknown
1978–79	National II	2nd	26							Unknown
1979–80	National II	9th	43	22	5	11	6	18	21	Round of 32
2009–10	Inter-régions	5th	49	30	14	7	9	39	28	Round of 16
2010–11	DNA	12th	23	26	5	8	13	18	33	Last regional round
2011–12	DNA	3rd	44	26	13	5	8	32	28	Penultimate Regional Round
2012–13	DNA	8th	37	26	10	7	9	28	28	Unknown
2013–14	DNA	7th	40	30	12	4	14	35	44	Last regional round
2014–15	DNA	10th	36	30	8	12	10	23	26	Last regional round
2015–16	DNA	9th	37	30	10	7	13	33	40	Penultimate Regional Round
2016–17	DNA	6th	39	30	10	9	11	39	37	Round of 32
2017–18	DNA	2nd	50	30	14	8	8	36	25	Round of 64
2018–19	DNA	2nd	62	30	15	8	4	38	20	Round of 32
2019–20	DNA^{[note 2]}	6th	36	24	9	9	6	28	19	Round of 64
2020–21	Ligue 2	4th	38	22	10	8	4	26	19	Not played
2021–22	Ligue 2	1st	67	30	19	10	1	60	22	Not played			Sofiane Bayazid	16
2022–23	Ligue 1	8th	42	30	12	6	12	29	29	Round of 16			Sofiane Bayazid	14	^[16]
2023–24	Ligue 1	10th	39	30	11	6	13	33	39	Round of 16			Tosin Omoyele	10	^[17]

Notes

^ Goals in all competitions (Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1, Algerian Cup, League Cup, African and Super Cup) are counted.
^ On March 15, 2020, the Ministry of Youth and Sports decided to stop the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria, Then it was canceled with the rise of the first eight teams to the Ligue 2 and the relegation was cancelled.^[14]^[15]