Olympique Akbou ( Kabyle: Ulembi Aqbu;

Tamazight The Berber languages, also known as the Amazigh languages or Tamazight, are a branch of the Afroasiatic language family. They comprise a group of closely related but mostly mutually unintelligible languages spoken by Berber communities, who ar ...

: ⵓⵍⴻⵎⴱⵉ ⴰⵇⵠⵓ ;), known as O Akbou or OA for short, is an Algerian professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

club located in

Akbou Akbou (, ) 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. History The modern town of Akbou was established by the French in 1874. However, the area was occup ...

Béjaïa Province The Béjaïa Province (Kabyle language, Kabyle: ''Tawilayt n Bgayet''; , Latn, ar, Wilāyat Bijāyah; or ) is a provinces of Algeria, province of Algeria in the Kabylie region. With a population of 984,050 inhabitants in 2019, with a density o ...

Kabylia Kabylia or Kabylie (; in Kabyle: Tamurt n leqbayel; in Tifinagh: ⵜⴰⵎⵓⵔⵜ ⵏ ⵍⴻⵇⴱⴰⵢⴻⵍ; ), meaning "Land of the Tribes" is a mountainous coastal region in northern Algeria and the homeland of the Kabyle people. It is ...

. The club was founded in

1936 Events January–February * January 20 – The Prince of Wales succeeds to the throne of the United Kingdom as King Edward VIII, following the death of his father, George V, at Sandringham House. * January 28 – Death and state funer ...

and its colours are blue and white. The club currently plays in the

Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 The Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 (), known as Championnat National de Première Division or Ligue 1 for short, and formerly known as the Championnat National 1, is the Algerian professional league for association football clubs. It is the co ...

History

In summer 2018, a year after being relegated to the Division d'Honneur of Béjaïa (then 7th tier), Olympique Akbou was acquired by local businessman Karim Takka. The club immediately gained promotion to the Régional 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

), the club found itself in the 3rd tier (the removal of the professional

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

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 (Tamazight: ⵎⵓⵔⴰⴷ ⴽⴰⵔⵓⴼ; born 27 December 1968) is an Algerian former footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of footbal ...

in November 2022 at the helm and

Zidane Mebarakou Zidane Mebarakou (; Tamazight: ⵣⵉⴷⴰⵏ ⵎⴻⴱⴰⵔⴰⴽⵓ; born 3 January 1989) is an Algerian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for Olympique Akbou. Personal life Mebarakou is from Barbacha, 40 km south of th ...

during the winter transfer window at the back, the club achieved a run to the

2022–23 Algerian Cup The 2022–23 Algerian Cup () 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 sponsorship purposes. The winners will qualif ...

quarter-finals. On 5 May 2023, Olympique Akbou were promoted to the Algerian Ligue 2 for the first time in their history. It was their 4th consecutive promotion. The 2023–24 season began with an away loss at

CA Batna Chabab Aurès de Batna (), known as CA Batna or CAB for short, is an Algerian Association football, football club based in Batna City, Batna, founded in 1932. The club colours are red and blue. Their home stadium, 1 November 1954 Stadium (Batna ...

. Nevertheless, the club bounced back and went on a 23-game unbeaten run in the league, which started on October 7th with a 5–0 home win against

USM Annaba Union Sportive Médinat d'Annaba (), known as USM Annaba or simply USMAN for short, is an Algerian football club based in Annaba. It was founded in 1983 and its colours are red and white. Their home stadium, 19 May 1956 Stadium has a capacity of ...

and ended on May 7th with a 1–0 away loss at

AS Aïn M'lila Association Sportive Aïn M'lila (), commonly known as AS Aïn M'lila or simply ASAM for short, is an Algerian football club based in Aïn M'lila. The club was founded in 1933 and its colours are red and black. Their home stadium, Zoubir Khelifi ...

. On 11 May 2024, Olympique Akbou were promoted to the Ligue 1 for the first time in their history after beating NRB Teleghma. It was their 5th consecutive

promotion Promotion may refer to: Marketing * Promotion (marketing), one of the four marketing mix elements, comprising any type of marketing communication used to inform or persuade target audiences of the relative merits of a product, service, brand or i ...

, and thus becoming one of the very few clubs around the world to have done so.

Grounds

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

Sidi Aïch Sidi Aïch is a town in northern 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 ...

and Ighzer Amokrane. Olympique Akbou also hosted games in the

Maghrebi Unity Stadium Maghrebi Unity Stadium (, Berber languages, Tamazight: ⵎⴰⴳⵀⵔⴻⴱⵉ ⵓⵏⵉⵜⵢ ⵙⵜⴰⴷⵉⵓⵎ) is a multi-use stadium in Béjaïa, Kabylia, Algeria. It is currently used mostly for football (soccer), football matches and ...

Béjaïa Béjaïa ( ; , , ), formerly known as Bougie and Bugia, is a Mediterranean seaport, port city and communes of Algeria, commune on the Gulf of Béjaïa in Algeria; it is the capital of Béjaïa Province. Geography Location Béjaïa owes its ...

. The Martyrs Stadium, Akbou's municipal stadium, will host the team's games in the future, after the completion of renovation works.

Players

Source: The Algerian teams are limited to five foreign players. The squad list includes only the principal nationality of each player.

Current squad

Personnel

Current technical staff

Management

Honours

Senior team

(Level 2) **Winners (1): 2023–24 * Ligue 3 (Level 3) **Winners (1): 2022–23 * Régional I (Level 4) **Winners (1): 2021–22 * Régional II (Level 6) **Winners: 2019–20 * Division d'Honneur (Level 7) **Winners: 2018–19

Reserve team

* Ligue 2 U21 (Level 2) **Winners (1): 2023–24

Notes

References

External links

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