The Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 (), known as Championnat National de Première Division or Ligue 1 for short, and formerly known as the Championnat National 1, is the Algerian professional league for association football clubs. It is the country's primary football competition and serves as the top division of the Algerian football league system. Administered by the Ligue de Football Professionnel, it is contested by 16 clubs, with the three lowest-placed teams at the end of each season being relegated to the League 2 and replaced by the top two teams in that division and the playoffs winner. In 2009 it was known as Championnat d'Algérie D1 Nedjma and from 2010 to 2014, it was known as Ligue Professionnelle 1 Nedjma as it was sponsored by Kuwaiti telecommunications company Nedjma. Since 2014, the league has been officially known as Ligue Professionnelle 1 Mobilis as it is sponsored by Algerian telecommunications company Mobilis.
The league was created in 1962, when Algeria became an independent nation. Until 1950, only regional leagues (Algiers, Constantine, Oran) were contested. Some 'national' playoffs were played in the first decade of the 20th century, first in 1904. Between 1920 and 1956 the winners played off for the North African Championship, together with league winners from Morocco and Tunisia.
Between 1957 and 1962, a North African Championship without participation from Morocco and Tunisia (which had gained independence) was organised as the "Algerian championship".
On 21 August 2010, the FAF announced that the name of the league would change to Ligue Professionnelle 1 to reflect the professionalization of the league.
History Algerian football origins (1897–1962) The history of football in Algeria is closely linked to French football. When football appeared in France in the year 1872, it appeared in its turn naturally around 1894 in North Africa, a region of the world subject to French authority. The first clubs were founded in Oran, CDJ Oran (Club des Joyeuseté) was founded on 14 April 1894, this club created its football section on 10 July 1897. The second club CAL Oran (Club Athlétique Liberté Oranais) was founded with its football section on 28 September 1897 under the name of Club Athlétique Oranais.
As a result, football was progressively developed in French Algeria for more than half a century with the creation of a large number of clubs but also organizations that governed its practice in departmental and inter-regional competitions. Then it came to an end in the year 1962, when Algeria became the last territory in North Africa to abandon French rule and thus saw the end of colonial French football.
The Division Honneur 1963–1964, second edition of the championship The championship is once again modified during the season 1963–1964. After a very complex competition season regional tournaments organized on a system comprising several groups, with, in some cases, a regional final and a final tournament designating the first champion of Algeria; Algerian football leaders managed to reach a certain elite. Most teams that participated in the competition last season are grouped into three regional divisions. The championship then took the name of ephemeral DH, the "Honor Division". Unlike the previous season, instead of many individual groups composed of three regions or regional football leagues, only one group per region was implemented.
Following these regional championships, for the Western region or West Division Honneur, the ASM Oran was crowned regional champion after a final victory two goals to one against his rival of Oran on MC Oran and qualified for the national tournament with striker Abdelkader Reguig surnamed Pons. For the Central Region or Division Honneur Center, the NA Hussein Dey cap on the pole on the final day its direct rival, the CR Belcourt thanks to their goalkeeper Amirat, Senior contributor to the qualification of its team in the national tournament, annihilating attempts playmaker chabibiste Hacène Lalmas. As for the East region or Eastern Division Honneur is even the USM Annaba former USM Bone winner of the group I qualified for the second consecutive year the final tournament with his player coach Mohamed Boufermès. She beats the departmental final MSP Batna winner of Group II.
This time the three were regional champions met in Constantine to determine who will win the second title. As the edition takes place in this city, it was decided that the fourth team to accompany the three champions, the dolphin would be the Honorary Division of the League of Constantine, the MSP Batna. After the competition, the USM Annaba winner in the semi-finals of the ASM Oran), will be needed in the final against NA Hussein Dey (winner of him MSP Batna), a score of one goal to nil. This is to date the first and only league title usmistes of Annaba.
National Division One or Division One, the national elite After two competitive seasons in the form of regional tournaments with a final national tournament, the Algerian Football Federation reorganized once again the championship. This time she opted during the season 1964-1965 to create a national championship to direct confrontation between the sixteen best teams of the three regional leagues of Algerian football. For this, she referred the results of last season including the first five of each of the regional leagues and more regional champion of the season.
So we had for the Western region or League Oranie the first five teams (the ASM Oran the MC Oran, the ES Mostaganem the MC Saida and JSM Tiaret) to the center of Algiers region or League again the first five teams (the CR Belouizdad the NA Hussein Dey, the USM Blida the MC Algiers and USM Alger) and the Eastern region or Constantine League champion last season the USM Annaba and the following five of the ranking of this region (the MSP Batna, the ES Guelma, the ES Sétif, the USM Setif and MO Constantine). Different formulas of the first division.
Domination CR Belouizdad (4 titles) – (1965–1971)
The CR Belcourt (later CR Belouizdad) is a new club at this time, from the district of Belcourt to Algiers which will be renamed Belouizdad. This club was born from the merger of two former clubs from the same district, WRB (Widad Riadhi Belcourt) and the CAB (Club Athéltique Belcourt).
These two former clubs were known for playing football competitions in the French colonial era, for both affiliated to the FFFA (French Football Federation Association) and LAFA (League Algiers Football Association). In the sixties, this team has dominated the national football by winning no fewer than four titles between seasons 1964–1965 and 1970–1971. She realized the performance to make two doubles championships in seasons 1964–1965 – 1965–1966, then during the season 1968–1969 – 1969–1970. This team, led by Yahia Ahmed Saadi and then Arab Zitoun, was composed of the best players representing the backbone of the Algerian selection apart from those from the French colonial clubs such Hamiti of Racing Universitaire d'Alger or Djemaâ of Gallia Sport Algiers. This talented team was distinguished in all competitions in both Algeria at Maghreb (with the gain of three Maghreb Champions Cup consecutive winning). His two main rivals were the ES Sétif Salhi of brothers, who managed to grab the title of the season 1967–1968 and MC Oran who won his first trophy in the season 1970-1971, with the generation Fréha – Hadefi, having narrowly missed the season 1968–1969; and especially that of the season 1967–1968 (dolphin of the ES Sétif but ahead of the CR Belouizdad third in the ranking).
Rivalry: MC Alger (5 titles) – JS Kabylie (4 titles) – (1972–1980) Season CRB JSK MCA MCO 1969–1970 1 2 6 7 1970–71 6 7 3 1 1971–72 2 9 1 4 1972–73 12 1 3 9 1973–74 4 1 5 8 1974–75 6 7 1 3 1975–76 11 3 1 9 1976–77 2 1 5 4 1977–78 9 2 1 8 1978–79 7 2 1 3 1979–80 2 1 8 6 Top fourfinishes 5 8 7 5out of 11This table indicates the results of the 'Big Four' during the 1970s.
In the 1970s, MC Algiers made considerable progress by capturing five titles in the Algerian Cup. Before this era, MC Algiers faced its first relegation as a result of events that occurred in the 1964–1965 season when the team was playing against MC Oran. It took the African Cup of Champion Clubs' three years in the second division before making a comeback into the first division. Under the management of the two coaches, Smaïl Khabatou and Abdelhamid Zouba, MC Algiers managed to win two back-to-back Algeria Championship titles in the 1974–1975 and 1975–1976 seasons. MC Algiers won the continental treble of titles in the 1975–1976 season.
The dominance of this team of MC Algiers will still be contested by the JS Kabylie, which succeed in this decade to glean four league titles Algeria. This team which reached the generation of Mouloud Iboud, captain for nearly nine years, was nicknamed "steamroller" as she won victories. The club will also be the second after the CR Belouizdad and just before the MC Algiers to realize a double championship in seasons 1972–1973 and 1973–1974, and a double Algerian Cup – of Algerian Football Championship when the season 1976–1977. Unlike other teams in the championship, it will be one of the first formations to experiment, after the passage of the former Goalkeeper of the FLN football team, Abderrahmane Boubekeur, several foreign coaches. The team was managed by the French Jean Lemaître (season 1970–1971), Christian Banjou (midseason 1974–1975 and midseason 1975–1976), but also by the Yugoslav Jouan Cestic (season 1973-1974), Hungarian André Nagy (mid-season 1976–1977) and Romanians with the duo first Virgil Popescu and Petre Mândru (season 1972–1973 year of the first title), then Bazil Marian (during the season 1973–1974). The most famous of these early foreign coaches is probably the Polish Stefan Zywotko, which formed at the end of this decade a duet with Mahieddine Khalef that will last nearly twelve years.
During that decade, a sports reform was held by the Ministry of Youth and Sports precisely in the season 1975–1976, to give the elite clubs a good financial base in order to empower them to structure themselves in a professional manner (ASP Sports Association Performance '). The aim was therefore they have full autonomy management with the creation of their own training center. For that many clubs had to sacrifice their names and rename them after the main sponsor. It was thus possible to see in some clubs names letter Promoted oil of Sonatrach sponsor the MC Alger on MC Oran and ES Sétif, renamed MP Algiers, MP Oran and EP Setif. Similarly, the Sonelgaz, with the 'K' of Kahraba (gas), sponsorisa the JS Kabylie, which gave its name to JS Kabylie in Jamiat Sari ' Kawkabi or the USM Alger, famous USK Algiers. But also CNAN (Compagnie National Algérienne de Navigation) with the M of Milaha (browser) that sponsorisa the Nasr Hussein Dey Athletic became Milaha Athletic Hussein Dey and many other more. Although for some time it will have allowed these clubs to form themselves into genuine independent sports clubs with the example of Mouloudia of Algiers, which flew past and continues to dominate sports competitions in other disciplines as football, it will fail because the clubs gradually resume in the following years their original names and démarcheront themselves many sponsors at a time.
Hegemony JS Kabylie (6 titles) – (1981–1990)
During the 1980s, Algerian football saw the national team qualify for two FIFA World Cups, while several domestic clubs also achieved notable results in international competitions. Among the most prominent clubs of the period was JS Kabylie, then known as Jeunesse Électronique de Tizi-Ouzou (JET). Managed by the coaching partnership of Polish coach Stefan Żywotko and Algerian coach Mahieddine Khalef, the club became one of the dominant teams in Algerian football at both domestic and continential level during the decade.