The Algerian Basketball Championship, now called the Super Division and formally known as the ABC Super Division, is the pre-eminent men's

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

league League or The League may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''Leagues'' (band), an American rock band * ''The League'', an American sitcom broadcast on FX and FXX about fantasy football * ''League of Legends'', a 2009 multiplayer online battle a ...

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

. National 1 is contested by 16 teams, with the two lowest-placed teams

relegated Promotion and relegation is used by sports leagues as a process where teams can move up and down among divisions in a league system, based on their performance over a season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are sometimes call ...

to the Second Division and replaced by the two playoff winners. From 1963 onwards,

MC Alger Mouloudia Club d'Alger (), referred to as MC Alger or MCA for short, is an Algerian football club based in Algiers. The club was founded in 1921 and its colours are red, green and white. Their home stadium, Ali La Pointe Stadium, has a capacit ...

(21 titles) and

WA Boufarik Widad Adabi Boufarik (), known as WA Boufarik or simply WAB for short, is an Algerian football club based in the town of Boufarik. The club was founded in 1945 and its colours are black and orange. Their home stadium, Mohamed Reggaz Stadium, ...

(9 titles) both dominated. Darak El-Watani won 11 titles but no longer exists.

Play history

Before Algeria's independence, there were several regional leagues led by the French federation. The Algerian Basketball Championship was founded in 1962 when the country achieved independence. The first, second, and third championships were won by

ASM Oran Association Sportive Madinet d'Oran (), known as ASM Oran or ASMO for short, is an Algerian football club based in Oran and founded in 1933. The club colours are green and white. Their home stadium, Habib Bouakeul Stadium, has a capacity of 15,0 ...

in 1963, 1964, and 1965, respectively. Capital clubs began dominating the championship starting in the 1965–66 season.

USM Alger Union Sportive de la Médina d'Alger (); known as USM Alger or simply USMA for short, is a Association football, football club based in the inner suburbs of Algiers. The club was founded in 1937 and its colours are red and black. Their home sta ...

won three titles (1966, 1967, and 1969) over the next few years, with RAM Alger breaking their win streak by winning in 1968. Darak El-Watani pulled ahead with 11 titles, including six consecutive wins between 1977 and 1982. MP Alger won four times in the mid-1980s, and again in 1988–89 under the name MC Alger.

won five consecutive titles between 1990 and 1994 and an additional three between 1997 and 1999. IRB Alger (later renamed OC Alger) broke the first streak by winning the championships in 1994–95 and 1995–96. WA Boufarik also won four

Algerian Basketball Cup The Algerian Basketball Cup is an elimination Basketball tournament held annually in Algeria. It is the second most important national title in Algerian basketball after the Algerian Basketball Championship. The competition started apparently in 1 ...

s in the 1990s. The GS Pétroliers dominated the first 20 years of the 2000s, first as MC Alger with titles in the 1999–2000 and 2000–01 seasons; four consecutive wins between 2003 and 2006; and one in 2007–08. The team started its run under its new name, MC Alger, with three consecutive wins (2009 to 2012), punctuated by a loss to

CSM Constantine CSM Constantine is an Algerian professional basketball team located in Constantine, Algeria. The team currently competes in the Algerian Basketball Championship The Algerian Basketball Championship, now called the Super Division and formally know ...

, and another six consecutive wins (2013 to 2019) before the

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interrupted play. In the 2006–07 season, there were six teams: WA Boufarik, CRB Dar El-Beida, WB Aïn Bénian, AS PTT Alger, MC Alger, and NB Staouéli. In the sixth minute of the second quarter of a mini-championship playoff game against DRB Staouéli, MC Alger left the court while the score was 28–21 in favor of DRB Staouéli. International referee Noureddine Chachoua awarded MC Alger a loss by penalty, allowing DRB Staouéli to win the championship for the first time. Two seasons later, AS PPT Alger also won the title after defeating GS Pétroliers in a mini-championship 2nd tournament playoff in Hydra. At halftime, the score was 45–31 and increased to 81–81 by the end of the game with three seconds left. Faycal Belkhodja was able to score three points, taking the win for GS Pétroliers. The final match (

best of three Coney Hatch is a Canadian hard rock band who released three albums in the 1980s and released their album ''Four'' in 2013 and a live double album on vinyl, ''Postcard From Germany'' in 2023. Based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, the band consisted ...

) system, which had been absent for most of the early 2000s, returned in the 2010–11 season. The GS Pétroliers swept CRB Dar Beida in the finals. The competition system changed again; now, a tournament of 16 clubs would play 30 matches each. The club that came first in points was crowned champion. The GS Pétroliers beat US Sétif (107–65) to win their second consecutive title. They also won the

for the second consecutive time. The 2012–13 season brought another competition system change. Twenty clubs returned and four new ones joined. They were divided into groups A and B, with each group playing 18 matches as part of phase one. In phase two, the first four teams of each group moved on to the playoffs. The remaining teams were up for relegation.

beat GS Pétroliers 2–1 and won the title for the first time. The team went on to represent Algeria at the

2013 FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup The 2013 FIBA Africa Clubs Champions Cup, FIBA Africa Basketball Club Championship (28th edition), is an international basketball tournament held in Sousse, Tunisia from December 12 to 21, 2013. The tournament, organized by FIBA Africa and hoste ...

. By the start of the next season, CSM Constantine had lost most of its star players and GS Pétroliers returned to win the title for four consecutive seasons, in addition to four consecutive cup wins. Due to its winning streak and sponsorship from

Sonatrach Sonatrach (; ) is the national state-owned oil company of Algeria. Founded in 1963, it is known today to be the largest company in Africa with 154 subsidiaries, and often referred as the first African oil "major". In 2021, Sonatrach was the seven ...

, GS Pétroliers was the only club not to struggle with financial issues in the early 2010s.

Clubs

The following is a list of clubs that participated in the

2024-25 A coxless four, abbreviated as a 4- and also called a straight four, is a racing shell used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for four persons who propel the boat with sweep oars, without a coxswain. The crew consists of four ...

season: ;Notes

Title holders

Below is the list of the champions since the first edition in 1962–63.

and

have historically been rivals due to both teams' high win count. * 1962–63: ASM Oran * 1963–64: ASM Oran * 1964–65: ASM Oran * 1965–66:

* 1966–67:

* 1967–68: RAM Alger * 1968–69:

* 1969–70: Darak El-Watani * 1970–71: CSS Kouba * 1971–72: Darak El-Watani * 1972–73: Darak El-Watani * 1973–74: Darak El-Watani * 1974–75: Darak El-Watani * 1975–76:

CS DNC Alger CS, C-S, C.S., Cs, cs, or cs. may refer to: Job titles * Chief Secretary (Hong Kong) * Chief superintendent, a rank in the British and several other police forces * Company secretary, a senior position in a private sector company or public sec ...

* 1976–77: Darak El-Watani * 1977–78: Darak El-Watani * 1978–79: Darak El-Watani * 1979–80: Darak El-Watani * 1980–81: Darak El-Watani * 1981–82: Darak El-Watani * 1982–83: MP Alger * 1983–84: MP Oran * 1984–85: MP Alger * 1985–86: MP Alger * 1986–87: MP Alger * 1987–88: IRB Alger * 1988–89: MP Alger * 1989–90:

* 1990–91:

* 1991–92:

* 1992–93:

* 1993–94:

* 1994–95: IRB Alger * 1995–96: IRB/ECT Alger * 1996–97:

* 1997–98:

* 1998–99:

* 1999–2000:

* 2000–01:

* 2001–02:

* 2002–03:

* 2003–04:

* 2004–05:

* 2005–06:

* 2006–07: DRB Staouéli * 2007–08:

* 2008–09: AS PTT Alger * 2009–10: GS Pétroliers * 2010–11: GS Pétroliers * 2011–12: GS Pétroliers * 2012–13:

* 2013–14: GS Pétroliers * 2014–15: GS Pétroliers * 2015–16: GS Pétroliers * 2016–17: GS Pétroliers * 2017–18: GS Pétroliers * 2018–19: GS Pétroliers * 2019–20: ''cancelled'' * 2020–21: ''cancelled'' * 2021–22: NB Staouéli * 2022–23:

* 2023–24: WO Boufarik

League championships by club

Super Division seasons and finals from 1995

References

External links

Algerian Basketball Federation official website

1st Basketball website in Algeria

Algerian Basketball - Afrobasket.com
{{Men's professional basketball leagues Basketball competitions in Algeria Basketball leagues in Africa

Basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

1962 establishments in Algeria