2019–20 USM Alger season

In the 2019–20 season, USM Alger competed in the Ligue 1 for the 42nd season, as well as the Algerian Cup. It was their 25th consecutive season in the top flight of Algerian football. They also competed in the Champions League, and the Algerian Cup.

During the campaign, the club were plagued by major financial problems after the club owner Ali Haddad was jailed, which froze the official account of the club, leaving them unable to pay the salaries of the players, technical staff and other workers.

On March 15, 2020, the Ligue de Football Professionnel (LFP) decided to halt the season due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Algeria. On July 29, 2020, the LFP declared that season is over and CR Belouizdad to be the champion, the promotion of four teams from the League 2, and scraping the relegation for the current season.

Summary On June 2, 2019, it was announced on Echourouk TV that the Haddad family was selling its shares in SSPA USMA, of which it held 92%.

The club lost several key players including Abderrahmane Meziane, who moved to Al Ain. and Raouf Benguit to Espérance ST. also Farouk Chafaï Mokhtar Benmoussa and Prince Ibara to K Beerschot. On 26 July, USM Alger squad went to Tunisia for a ten-day internship The cost was paid by a friend from Tunisia because of the continued freezing of their financial account. On 4 August, Al-Hayat Petroleum Company decided to pay the cost of travel to Niger in order to play the preliminary round of the CAF Champions League, the same company that wants to buy the majority of the shares of the club. On 4 September, The players of USM Alger decided to go on strike to protest difficult financial situation They stressed that this decision has nothing to do with the administration, the fans or the club itself. It is a protest movement against the state of the USM Alger and the delay in resolving the crisis, As a reminder, the USM Alger players have not received their salaries for 6 months, while the new ones have not received any salary since joining the club.

On 13 October, The players decided to boycott the training and official matches because they have not been paid for five months, two days after Amine Tirmane club's communication officer He submitted his resignation on the channel Dzaïr TV, a day later a fan paid the amount of 500,000 dinars per player reward win against Gor Mahia and AS Aïn M'lila, The players then decide to return to training and play CA Bordj Bou Arreridj match on October 23. After a protest in front of the headquarters of the Ministry of Youth and Sports against the difficult situation, Minister Raouf Salim Bernaoui said to supporters of the club They have to be patient.

On 19 October, Nearly 5,000 supporters of USM Alger went out to The headquarters of the Wilaya of Algiers to protest against the club's difficult financial situation and free it from ETRHB Haddad Company. A day after Mounir D'bichi said to France 24 that Al-Hayat Petroleum is a subsidiary of ETRHB Haddad which also said that the team's debts amount to 1,020,000,000 DA about 8 million euros. D'bichi said ETRHB Haddad had provided 400 billion centimes since its arrival about 23 million euros. On 22 October, Oussama Chita resumed training with his teammates after a long absence due to a serious injury contracted by the Algerian international last season at the knee.

On October 29, 2019, The leaders of USM Algiers have announced in a statement that the sponsorship deal with Kia Al Djazair will be terminated amicably and the club will recover all outstanding debts that are valued at nearly 20 billion centimes (1.4 million €) In addition, the contract with Ifri will not be renewed either by decision of the company. On November 5, the administration of USM Alger signed Sponsor contract with Serport specialized in port services for 16 billion centimes about 1.2 million euros. The administration of USM Alger to regain its right in the Darby case, appealed the arbitration decision issued by the Algerian Court for the settlement of sports disputes in case No. 92/19 between Union sportive de la médina d'Alger against the Algerian Football Federation and the Professional Football Association. This was the receipt of the receipt of the appeal from the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne on 8 January 2020 and the team paid the costs of registering the case with an amount of one thousand euros (€1000 ) on the morning of 9 January.

Squad list Players and squad numbers last updated on 1 May 2020.Note: Flags indicate national team as has been defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Name Nat. Position Date of Birth (Age) Signed from Signedin Contractends Notes Apps Goals Goalkeepers1 Lamine Zemmamouche GK MC Alger 2012 2020 Captain379116 Ismaïl Mansouri GK MO Béjaïa 2008 2020 Loan return79030 Abdelmoumen Sifour GK Reserve team 2019 2022 10 Defenders3 Abderrahim Hamra CB Reserve team 2016 2020 3214 Mustapha Kheiraoui CB A Bou Saada 2019 2022 2206 Lyes Oukkal CB NA Hussein Dey 2019 2021 14019 Redouane Cherifi LB USM Bel-Abbès 2017 2021 89222 Mohamed Rabie Meftah RB JSM Béjaïa 2011 2020 3rd captain2584927 Mohamed Tiboutine RB JS Saoura 2019 2021 9028 Hicham Belkaroui CB Al-Raed 2019 2021 6042 Adam Alilet CB Reserve team 2019 2023 9057 Anis Khemaissia LB USM Annaba 2019 2022151 Midfielders2 Oussama Chita DM MC Alger 2017 2021 6427 Ilyes Yaiche AM / LW NA Hussein Dey 2016 2022 Loan return2108 Kamel Belarbi DM USM El Harrach 2018 2022 23010 Muaid Ellafi AM / LW Al-Shabab 2018 2021 40717 Taher Benkhelifa DM Paradou AC 2019 2020 Loan26123 Hamza Koudri DM MC Alger 2012 2020 Vice-captain242825 Mohamed Reda Boumechra DM USM El Harrach 2019 2020 Loan return23226 Billel Benhammouda AM USMM Hadjout 2016 2023 433 Forwards7 Zakaria Haddouche LW MC Alger 2019 2021 909 Zakaria Benchaâ ST MC Oran 2018 2021 27711 Abdelkrim Zouari RW USM Bel Abbès 2018 2021 411215 Oualid Ardji LW / LB NA Hussein Dey 2016 2021 Loan return77618 Aymen Mahious ST AS Aïn M'lila 2018 2021 Loan return481420 Adem Redjehimi LW Afro Napoli United 2019 2021 61

Transfers In DatePlayerFrom clubTransfer feeSource 9 June 2019 LB Anis Khemaissia USM Annaba Free transfer 22 June 2019 CB Lyes Oukkal NA Hussein Dey Free transfer 30 June 2019 RB Mehdi Benchikhoune WA Tlemcen Loan Return 30 June 2019 ST Aymen Mahious AS Aïn M'lila Loan Return 1 July 2019 DM Taher Benkhelifa Paradou AC Loan for one year 2 July 2019 LW Zakaria Haddouche MC Alger Free transfer 6 July 2019 FW Karim Louanchi Reserve team Free transfer 8 July 2019 CB Mustapha Kheiraoui Amal Bou Saâda Free transfer 13 July 2019 RB Mohamed Tiboutine JS Saoura Free transfer 30 July 2019 CB Adam Alilet Reserve team Free transfer 31 July 2019 CB Hicham Belkaroui Al-Raed Free transfer 31 July 2019 LW Adem Redjehimi Afro Napoli United Free transfer 12 January 2020 AM / LW Ilyes Yaiche NA Hussein Dey Loan Return

Out DatePlayerTo clubTransfer feeSource 7 June 2019 AM / FW Rafik Bouderbal AS Lyon-Duchère Free transfer 13 June 2019 ST Abderrahmane Meziane Al Ain Free transfer 18 June 2019 MF Ammar El Orfi JS Kabylie Free transfer 30 June 2019 CB Mohamed Benyahia Unattached Free transfer (Released) 30 June 2019 DM Raouf Benguit Paradou AC Loan Return 15 July 2019 CB Farouk Chafaï MC Alger Free transfer 22 July 2019 FW Mohamed Amine Hamia MC Oran Free transfer (Released) 24 July 2019 FW Prince Ibara K Beerschot Free transfer (Released) 1 August 2019 CB Mokhtar Benmoussa USM Bel Abbès Free transfer 6 August 2019 GK Mourad Berrefane RC Relizane Free transfer 2 September 2019 MF Mohammed Benkhemassa Málaga CF 50,000 € 31 December 2019 FW Zakaria Haddouche Unattached Free transfer (Released) 30 January 2020 FW Zakaria Benchaâ CS Sfaxien Loan for six months

Pre-season and friendlies

Competitions Overview

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center" |- !rowspan=2|Competition !colspan=8|Record !rowspan=2|Started round !rowspan=2|Final position / round !rowspan=2|First match !rowspan=2|Last match |- ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! |- | Ligue 1

Ligue 1

League table

Results summary

Results by round

Matches On 29 July 2019, the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 fixtures were announced.

Algerian Cup

Champions League

Qualifying rounds

First round

Second round

Group stage

Squad information Appearances and goals

{| class="wikitable mw-datatable sortable nowrap" style="text-align:center; font-size:96%;" ! rowspan="2"|No. ! rowspan="2"| ! rowspan="2"|Player ! rowspan="2" style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| ! colspan="3" style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|Ligue 1 ! colspan="3" style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|Algerian Cup ! colspan="3" style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|Champions League ! colspan="3"|Total |- !!!!!style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| !!!!!style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| !!!!!style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| !!!!! |-bgcolor=efefef class="sortbottom" |colspan=19" style="background:#000000; color:white; text-align:center"|Goalkeepers |- |1 |GK |style="text-align:left"|Lamine Zemmamouche |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |15||15||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |6||6||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |22||22||0

|16 |GK |style="text-align:left"|Ismaïl Mansouri |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |5||5||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |4||4||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |10||10||0

|30 |GK |style="text-align:left"|Abdelmoumen Sifour |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |0||0||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |0||0||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |1||1||0 |-bgcolor=efefef class="sortbottom" |colspan=19" style="background:#000000; color:white; text-align:center"|Defenders |- |3 |CB |style="text-align:left"|Abderrahime Hamra |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |16||16||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|1 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |8||8||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |25||25||1 |- |4 |CB |style="text-align:left"|Mustapha Kheiraoui |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |14||14||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |0||0||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |8||8||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |22||22||0 |- |6 |CB |style="text-align:left"|Lyes Oukkal |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |9||8||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |4||4||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |14||13||0 |- |19 |LB |style="text-align:left"|Redouane Cherifi |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |19||19||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |9||8||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |29||28||0 |- |22 |RB |style="text-align:left"|Mohamed Rabie Meftah |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |16||15||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|5 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |9||9||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|3 |26||25||8 |- |27 |RB |style="text-align:left"|Mohamed Tiboutine |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |6||5||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |2||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |9||7||0 |- |28 |CB |style="text-align:left"|Hicham Belkaroui |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |4||2||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |6||4||0 |- |42 |CB |style="text-align:left"|Adam Alilet |style="border-right: 1pt black solid"| |6||6||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0 |1||1||style="border-right: 1pt black solid"|0

2019–20 USM Alger season

Bron en licentie