Reportage
CHAN 2023: USM Annaba, in search of a glorious past
Created in 1983, the Annaba club navigates in troubled waters, under the gaze of Nacer Benali, the general secretary of the team.
© Martin Guez / RFI
Text by: Martin Guez Follow
7 mins
A time tipped to host the small final of CHAN, just to reward the incredible fervor of the city's fans, Annaba was ultimately not preferred to Oran, which will host the match for 3rd place between Niger and Madagascar on Friday 3 february.
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The CHAN in Annaba will therefore have ended in the quarter-finals, in a city which now dreams of hosting the CAN in 2025, as was already the case in 1990, and which has few opportunities to catch fire.
Despite the cold, despite the rain, Annaba's supporters were still there: between 30 and 40,000 at the May 19, 1956 stadium, for the group B matches and for the quarter-final between Senegal and Mauritania, the last meeting disputed in the city.
A lawn and a stadium that Yacine Slatni, former right side of the Algerian team (29 caps), and former player and coach of USM Annaba, the city club, knows well.
He has a special memory of this stadium, a certain evening in 1999, during a 4-1 victory against Liberia with the Fennecs: “
It was packed!
80 or 90,000 spectators
,” he says thoughtfully.
“
At the time, Liberia was George Weah, he played for AC Milan!
It was crazy to see him there.
And I had made the decisive pass on the first goal (laughs).
There really is an extraordinary fervor here.
For me they are the best supporters in the world.
We call
them “Annaba hooligans”.
As a player it's great to play in front of such an audience.
It's a real sound and light show, it's an explosion, it's a lot of noise!
»
🔥 USM Annaba supporters celebrated the last game of the season and the rise in the Algerian Ligue 2 with an incredible pyrotechnic show!
The 60,000 spectators at the 19-Mai-1956 stadium cracked smoke bombs by the thousands.
🔥 pic.twitter.com/pOr6dtQ0NN
– THE TEAM (@lequipe) May 6, 2018
Precisely, those who make the most noise in the stadium are the Independents of Bône, the old name of the city.
A well-known group of supporters, including Bilel, with a hood on his head and sunglasses on his nose, despite the rain.
In red and white of course, the colors of his club: "
We are supporters of USM Annaba, and we have the false name of hooligans
", he smiles.
“
A kind of ultras, but not really ultras, we are simple supporters, very much in love with their club.
And we are celebrating the 10th anniversary of our group
”.
An anniversary that they celebrate regularly with drums, songs and smoke bombs, even if the heart was not really there when the club descended.
“
We ended up in hell, because the club went from the first to the third division.
Our club is in our roots, it's our blood, our family.
Our loyalty is limitless: I came to the stadium with my dad, and I will take my children there, with the same grinta
.
»
Despite the disappointing results of their heart team, the fans of USM Annaba do not lose their smiles, and still come in great numbers to the stadium.
© Martin Guez / RFI
However, for 10 years, USM Annaba has navigated in troubled waters, in the shallows of Algerian football.
This does not prevent another supporter, Bilel, from attending all the matches, even with his 4-year-old daughter.
“
I love coming to the stadium with her.
And she, too, enjoyed the experience.
For us, here in Annaba, football is a way of life, it's in our genes.
Even if the Annaba club goes down to the regional level, you will still see 30 or 40,000 people at the stadium.
Because our players, we love them, we love them and we love them!
»
And as love makes you blind, Bilel counts neither the hours nor the kilometers to see USM play all over the country.
“
Sometimes I travel 1,200 kilometers, so 2,400 round trips to see them
, he testifies.
We organize ourselves with the group, we go there by bus, by car, by boat, whatever!
But it's really sad to see such a city and such a club vegetating in the lower divisions.
We ask the national authorities to save the club, and to re-professionalize it.
I hope to live long enough to see them again in the first division, why not in the African Cup one day, and why not win a title.
It is my dearest dream.
»
Yahia Boumaza, the new president of USM, dreams of a rise of his club in the first division.
© Martin Guez / RFI
A dream that turned into a nightmare for a declining team.
At the club's headquarters, a bit decrepit, Yahia Boumaza, the new president, and Nacer Benali, former goalkeeper and current general secretary, give us a little guided tour, and plunge back into the glorious hours of the USM.
"
There, look at the photo, it's our 1992 team, which finished 3rd in the first division
", details Nacer Benali.
He adds: “
We played the Arab Cup that year!
We had Algerian and Ivorian internationals.
It was a good time !
»
A beautiful era.
From now on, the team plays in the 2nd division, in a league which has not been professional since last year.
Make way for young amateur players, 19 years old on average, who are currently in 4th place in their championship, even if the latter is temporarily at a standstill.
Nicknamed "the Uncrowned King", the club was created in 1983, but has never won a title.
Fortunately the public has never failed, as evidenced by a huge poster plastered on the wall.
"
It's a photo taken in the 3rd division
", explains Yahia Boumaza.
“
You see thousands and thousands of supporters, they are among the top 10 in the world!
The national team has been here before, and played in front of 110,000 spectators!
As the stadium is embedded in the mountain, some were standing on the hill, others clinging to the grid… It was completely full.
»
A very complicated period for the club
A fervor that became famous on social networks, when the whole stadium lit up in 2018, during the ascent to the 2nd division.
“
It was very hot that day.
We had counted, there were 93,000 people for a 3rd division match!
And with thousands of smokers to celebrate.
That's USM Annaba
,” marvels Yahia Boumaza, who deplores the current situation of his club.
“
Today, we are in a very complicated period, we no longer have a sponsor as was the case in the past.
So if a French club wants to establish a partnership, we are takers
, ”he smiles.
It is true that the public does not have many opportunities to do so, so he took advantage of the CHAN to show himself: "
and again you did not see well, because the climate did not help us, with the rain
“, regret the two men.
“
Because even if you have seen CHAN matches here with 40,000 people, 40,000 is nothing at all for Annaba!
We, as Algerians and inhabitants of the city, when there are international demonstrations, we are there.
And even if the national team does not play here, we are still here
”.
They are there, even if the CHAN is no longer there, and has finally sailed to Oran, in the West, for the small final.
In the meantime, Annaba dreams of a rise of the USM in the 1st division, and of the CAN 2025. A CAN that the country and the city had already welcomed in 1990. At the stadium of May 19, 1956, already.
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CHAN 2023