Full name | Mouloudia Club d'Alger |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | M.C.A Mouloudia The Dean |
Founded | August 7, 1921 as Mouloudia Chaàbia d'Alger |
Ground | Stade Omar Hamadi, Algiers |
Capacity | 10,000 |
President | Omar Gharib |
Head Coach | Djamel Menad |
League | Ligue Professionnelle 1 |
2016–17 | 10th |
Mouloudia Club d'Alger (Arabic: Pنادي مولودية الجزائر), referred to as MC Alger or MCA for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers, that plays in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1.
Founded in 1921 as Mouloudia Chaàbia d'Alger, the club was known as Mouloudia Pétroliers d'Alger from 1977 to 1986 and changed its name to Mouloudia Club d'Alger in 1986. The club colours are red and green. They play at the Stade Omar Hamadi.
MC Alger were the first Algerian club to win a continental competition, winning the 1976 African Cup of Champions Clubs. They are one of the most successful Algerian clubs having won the domestic league 7 times, second only to JS Kabylie, and the domestic cup 7 times, third to USM Alger and ES Sétif.
In 1921, a group of youths from the Casbah and Bab El Oued neighborhoods joined together to create the first Muslim football club in colonized Algeria. The group was led by Hamoud Aouf, who served as a liaison between the two groups. On August 7, 1921, the club was officially founded in the waiting room of the Benachere cafe. The date coincided with the Mouloud, hence the name Mouloudia Club d'Alger. Green, for the hope of the Algerian people and the traditional colour of Islam, and red, for the love of the nation, were chosen as the club colours.
In 1976, MC Alger qualified for the African Cup Of Champions Clubs for the first time in its history after winning the 1974–75 Algerian Championnat National. They reached the final after beating Al-Ahly Benghazi of Libya, Al-Ahly of Egypt, Luo Union of Kenya and Enugu Rangers of Nigeria, respectively. In the final, they met Guinean club Hafia Conakry, who had won the last edition of the competition. In the first leg in Conakry, MC Alger lost 3–0 and faced the difficult task of having to score three goals in the return leg. However, in the return leg, they managed to score the three goals with a brace from Omar Betrouni and a goal from Zoubir Bachi. They went on to win the penalty shootout 4–1 to win their first African title and also become the first Algerian club to win a continental competition.