Olympique Akbou ( ar, أولمبي أقبو; Kabyle: Ulembi Aqbu; Tamazight: ⵓⵍⴻⵎⴱⵉ ⴰⵇⵠⵓ), known as O Akbou or OA for short, is an Algerian

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

club located in

Akbou Akbou or Aqvu ( ar, أقبو) is a town in the Kabylie region in northern Algeria in Béjaïa Province. It is a growing city with a population of 52,300 in 2008. This is a number approximately 20,000 more than what was recorded in 1998. Histor ...

Béjaïa Province The Béjaïa Province ( Kabyle: ''Tawilayt n Bgayet''; ar, ولاية بجاية, Latn, ar, Wilāyat Bijāyah; french: wilaya de Béjaïa or ) is a province of Algeria in the Kabylie region. The province's capital city is Béjaïa, the terminus ...

Kabylia Kabylia ('' Kabyle: Tamurt n Leqbayel'' or ''Iqbayliyen'', meaning "Land of Kabyles", '','' meaning "Land of the Tribes") is a cultural, natural and historical region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is part of th ...

. The club was founded in 1936 and its colours are blue and white. The club is currently playing in the

Algerian Ligue 2 The Algerian Ligue 2, also called Ligue 2 , formerly known as Ligue Professionnelle 2 and Championnat National 2, is the second highest division overall in the Algerian football league system. It was professional from 2010 to 2020. History The ...

History

In summer 2018, a year after being relegated to the Division d'Honneur of Béjaïa (then 7th tier), the club was acquired by local businessman Karim Takka. The club immediately gained promotion to the Régionale II the following season. Following 2 successive promotions (the 2020–21 having not been held due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

), the club found itself in the 3rd tier (the removal of the professional Ligue 2 meant all below tiers would gain one step). The 2022–23 season saw the club achieve historic success. Bolstered by the arrivals of

Mourad Karouf Mourad Karouf (born 27 December 1968) is a retired Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordina ...

in November 2022 at the helm and Zidane Mebarakou during the winter transfer window at the back, the club achieved a run to the

2022–23 Algerian Cup The 2022–23 Algerian Cup ( ar, كأس الجزائر 23-2022) is the 56th edition of the Algerian Cup. It returns after two years of break due to COVID-19 pandemic. It is sponsored by Mobilis and known as the Mobilis Algerian Cup for sponsorshi ...

quarter-finals. Moreover, on May 5, 2023, O Akbou was promoted to the

for the first time in their history. This constitutes their 4th successive promotion.

Grounds

They typically play at 1 November Guendouza Stadium in Akbou. However, the past years, OA also played their home games in neighboring cities, such as

Sidi Aïch Sidi Aïch is a town in northern Algeria in the Soummam River valley. The Béni Mansour-Bejaïa line The Béni Mansour-Béjaïa line is an Algerian railway connecting the Soummam River valley to the Algiers-Skikda line over 88 kilometers. T ...

and Ighzer Amokrane. The club also hosted games in the

Maghrebi Unity Stadium Maghrebi Unity Stadium () is a multi-use stadium in Béjaïa, Algeria. It is currently used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of JSM Béjaïa, MO Béjaïa and Olympique Akbou. The stadium holds 18,000 people. Algeria national ...

during the 2022–23 season, both in the league and cup. The Stade des Martyrs, Akbou's municipal stadium, will host the team's games in the future, after the completion of renovation works.

Players

Current squad

Reserve squad

Personnel

Current technical staff

Honours

* Ligue 3 (Level 3) ::Winners: 2022–23 * Régionale I (Level 4) ::Winners: 2021–22 * Régionale II (Level 6) ::Winners: 2019–20 * Division d'Honneur (Level 7) ::Winners: 2018–19

Notes

References

External links

* {{Algerian Ligue 2 Football clubs in Algeria Sports clubs and teams in Algeria 1936 establishments in Algeria