Algeria's top football clubs spend millions to attract talent

[Al-khiyal]

Algeria's top football clubs spend millions to attract talent

June 20, 2008 -- The football season may be over in Algeria, but for premier league clubs, the hunt is already on to find the best players and coaches money can buy.

A lot of money.

At a time when these clubs are facing criticism for weak performance, their acquisition of top players and coaches can cost millions of dinars.

With the end of the season, presidents of football clubs began racing against time to sign in new players to support their teams. They offer the players astronomical sums of money for wearing their clubs' shirts. Club presidents sometimes engage in bidding wars to sign a player who has attracted everyone's attention.

Such is the case today with the presidents of league title winners JSK, Arab Champions League title winners ES Setif, and USM Annaba. They all want to sign MC Saida attacker Hamidi Cheikh. USM Annaba President Aissa Menadi offered him 13 million dinars, and ES Setif raised the offer to 15 million.

Cheikh just celebrated his 25th birthday. He's taking his time to decide.

The auction, meanwhile, is still going on.

These skyrocketing offers are driven by the limited number of good players and the preference of many of them to play in Europe, especially in France. If they can't get a spot on a European squad, many would rather play in Arab Gulf clubs than in Algeria. These clubs are much weaker than those in Europe, but they have one advantage: they pay a lot of money. One season or even a half-season there will earn the player more than three in the Algerian league, insiders say.

The transfer fever started a few days ago and will not slow down until mid-August, when the league action resumes in Algeria.

The latest news came from NA Hussein Dey, one of the capital clubs, who paid Ouznadji Nouri 15 million dinars to convince him to stay with the team for another season. Rumours are also circulating that JSK are poised to pay 15 million to get their yellow jersey on MC Algiers' Younes Soufiane for two years.

The transfer frenzy also extends to coaches. Like players, they seek opportunities in foreign championships, including Morocco, Tunisia and the Gulf. Last season, 14 out of the 16 premier league clubs changed their coaches at least once. With 5 changes all on their own, USM Annaba broke the record.

Big deals for the upcoming season include USM Annaba's signing of coach Rachid Belhout, a graduate of Belgian football schools. He will receive a monthly salary estimated at 1.2 million dinars. MC Algiers, the oldest football team in Algeria, offered Iraqi coach Amer Djamil a monthly salary of 800,000 to train the team for one season.

One reason behind the emergence of this high-price phenomenon, according to Algerian football expert Hicham Boumedjout, is the lack of football schools in Algeria to produce home-grown – and more affordable – talent.

"Paying attention to younger players like we did in the 1980s was the thing that made the Algerian national team defeat West Germany in the 1982 World Cup," he told Magharebia, stressing the need to open more of these schools in major cities across Algeria instead of settling for the one which opened two years ago in the capital.

Until Algeria produces its own new talent, the money stakes in the league will keep getting higher to lure the big names. These high-priced star players, however, can't improve the level of the Algerian league on their own. The performance level of most of these skilled players will deteriorate throughout the season, he said, to match the level of their teams.

In an official step to identify and cultivate more talent, some 2,500 graduates from sports institutes and university programmes will be recruited in 2008 to reinforce training across the country. APS quotes Youth and Sports Minister Hachemi Djiar as saying Thursday (June 19th) in Batna that the training "is a strategic choice for the modernisation of national sport."

The new graduates are intended to work "for the discovery... of young talent that will strengthen sports clubs and contribute in enhancing the level of sports in Algeria," Djiar concluded.

[Al-khiyal]

Romania's Moldovan to coach Algeria's JS Kabylie

June 24, 2008 -- Romanian coach Alexandre Moldovan arrived in Algeria Monday (June 23rd) on a one-year contract to replace former Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Moussa Saib as coach of Algerian champions JS Kabylie. Moldovan previously coached Raja Casablanca and Wydad Casablanca. Saib, who led the team to the champions' title last month, moved to Saudi Arabia's Al Watani.

[Al-khiyal]

Lounès Gaouaoui transféré à l'USM Annaba

Jeudi 26 juin 2008 -- Lounès Gaouaoui quitte le WA Tlemcen pour l'USM Annaba. Le gardien de but de l'Equipe d’Algérie de football a signé un contrat d'une année renouvelable avec le club de la ville d'Annaba, selon la direction de l'USMA. Le montant du contrat n'a pas été révélé.

Après deux ans passés à Tlemcen, le gardien international gardera la saison prochaine les buts de l'USM Annaba, un club qui ambitionne de jouer les premiers rôles du championnat national de football. Fort de l'appui financier du géant Mittal Arcelor et syndicat UGTA, l'USM Annaba veut figurer parmi les plus grands clubs de football d'Algérie et se qualifier pour la Coupe d'Afrique ou la Coupe arabe.

Lounès Gaouaoui a été révélé à la JS Kabylie, club qu'il avait quitté en 2006, sous la pression d'une forte concurrence de la part de l'actuel gardien kabyle Fawzi Chaouchi.

[Al-khiyal]

Hamza Yacef opte pour le MCA

Lundi 30 juin 2008 -- Hamza Yacef, l'ex-attaquant de la JSK et du WA Casablanca, a signé hier officiellement au profit du Mouloudia d'Alger. Convoité par plusieurs formations dont le CRB, l'USMA et l'USMB, Hamza Yacef a donc jeté son dévolu sur le Doyen. Par ailleurs, selon le président Sadek Amrous, des pourparlers très avancés sont en voie d'aboutir avec l'attaquant usmiste Hocine Achoui. Outre le défenseur Besseghir qui a été la première recrue du Mouloudia d'Alger cette saison, un autre jeune défenseur, dont le nom a été gardé secret, devait opter hier pour le MCA. Pour sa part, le coach Ameur Djamil aurait émis le voeu de voir à ses côtés Bouarara et Hamened. Dans le registre des départs, deux joueurs, Sidibe et Cherrad, ont quitté officiellement le club.

[Al-khiyal]

Des contrats de deux ans pour les joueurs

Mardi 1 juillet 2008 -- Plus de contrats de six mois ou d’un an pour les joueurs. C’est ce qu’ont décidé les membres du BF lors de leur réunion de dimanche dernier. Ainsi ne seront acceptés, à partir de janvier 2009, que les contrats avec une durée minimum de deux ans. La décision a été prise dans la perspective de calmer le marché des transferts et de limiter les sommes faramineuses distribuées aux joueurs. Le BF a décidé également de limiter à 5 joueurs le nombre de transfert dans le mercato. Concernant les entraîneurs, le BF a limité à deux leurs licences par saison.

[Al-khiyal]

Hamza Yacef opte pour le MCA

Yacef exits Wydad Casablanca to join MC Algiers

July 1, 2008 -- Wydad Casablanca scorer Hamza Yacef signed a one-year contract with Mouloudia Algiers (MCA) on Monday (June 30th), Liberte reported. Yacef started his playing career with USM Alger in 1997, winning the Algerian Cup twice with the club. After joining NA Hussein Dey in 2001, he scored 26 goals in 73 appearances. He joined Wydad in 2007. Yacef is the latest MCA recruit, following Boumechra (ASM Oran), Bentoucha (MC Saida), Doukha (MO Béjaia), Hamadou (USM Annaba) and Besseghir (RC Kouba), El Moudjahid reported.

[Al-khiyal]

Des contrats de deux ans pour les joueurs

Algerian football federation to require 2-year contracts

July 1, 2008 -- Effective January 2009, Algerian football contracts will be required to cover a minimum of two years, the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) announced on Monday (June 30th). The decision was made in an effort to "calm the transfer market where huge sums of money are distributed to players," the FAF told APS.