From our football correspondent
Crisis
Match23 Nov 2026
CR Belouizdad refuse to drop out of the race
Position 3, 19 points, and the result everyone checks first is now theirs. The word is still not being said around the ground, which is how you know everyone is thinking it.
Player ratings23 Nov 2026
Successful dribbles: 24. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Naoufel Khacef was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match21 Nov 2026
Beaten 1‑2, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Riyad Bounedjah to a room that had heard them before.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
Franck Etouga gets picked when it counts
Every manager keeps a short list in his head of the men he wants on the pitch when the stakes rise, and it is never published. The team sheets for the big afternoons say Franck Etouga is on it.
Looking ahead23 Nov 2026
ASO Chlef next, and one man in the CR Belouizdad dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad16 Nov 2026
Naoufel Khacef and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Squad16 Nov 2026
“I never wanted to be anywhere else. There is unfinished business here.” Munir Mohand commits to CR Belouizdad for another 2 years.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
The dugout16 Nov 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Farid Chaâl's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
Loan watch16 Nov 2026
9 appearances away from home and 4 goals to show for them. Every one of them makes next summer's conversation a little more expensive.
Squad16 Nov 2026
He is doing things every Saturday that nobody around him can answer. It is flattering for a season and a problem after that, and CR Belouizdad know which stage they are at.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad9 Nov 2026
Chouaib Keddad and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match7 Nov 2026
CR Belouizdad settle it inside twenty minutes
2 goals before the ground had finished arriving. MB Rouissat spent the rest of the afternoon playing a match that had already been decided, and everybody in the stadium knew it.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A performance of 8.13 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad9 Nov 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Munir Mohand and CR Belouizdad agree another 2 years.
Loan watch9 Nov 2026
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at CR Belouizdad, and 3 appearances in 9 say he has earned the hearing.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Riyad Bounedjah on a 2‑1 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
The dugout9 Nov 2026
Something was said to Caíque and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad2 Nov 2026
Mohamed Ali Ben Hammouda and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Match31 Oct 2026
MC El Bayadh left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Boardroom2 Nov 2026
Nobody left the CR Belouizdad dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
“I could talk about decisions and I could talk about luck. I will not. We lost.” The manager, 0‑1, and a press conference that lasted four minutes.
Squad2 Nov 2026
A place in the month's best eleven for Mohamed Slimi
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Mohamed Slimi has come out of that comparison in the side, and CR Belouizdad have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Squad2 Nov 2026
CR Belouizdad will explain it as a decision about the team, and it may well be one. A dressing room has never once read it that way.
Player ratings2 Nov 2026
12 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
The dugout2 Nov 2026
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match24 Oct 2026
It finished 3‑1, and it was Lofti Boussouar’s afternoon: on the scoresheet when it mattered, and the reason the points belong to CR Belouizdad.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Caíque was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
The terraces26 Oct 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
Marked 8.45 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Riyad Bounedjah kept it short after the 3‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout26 Oct 2026
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market26 Oct 2026
Farid Chaâl is free to find somewhere else
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at CR Belouizdad has been clear about where Farid Chaâl stands, which is more than many ever get.
Squad26 Oct 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Caíque finally opens his account
He wheeled away like a man who had been carrying it for months, because he had. CR Belouizdad have their signing off the mark and one press-conference question retired.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match14 Oct 2026
Out, 2‑3 to USM Khenchela, and the long argument about which of the small moments decided it. The league is all there is now, and everybody knows it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
No sign of nerves from Mohamed Slimi at 21 — 7.80
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Mohamed Slimi did not need any: 7.80, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Ibrahim El Khalil Sebih is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 21. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Match14 Oct 2026
Conceding is one thing; the response is what tells you about a dressing room. Franck Etouga had CR Belouizdad level again within 3 minutes, and USM Khenchela never got to play with a lead at all.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Boardroom19 Oct 2026
Nobody left the CR Belouizdad dressing room in a hurry
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
Squad19 Oct 2026
A mistake Farid Chaâl will not forget
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
In brief
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The dugout
The manager’s verdict
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The dugout
No place in the plan for Chouaib Keddad
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The dugout
Farid Chaâl is still being punished for one mistake
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Squad12 Oct 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Farid El Melali and CR Belouizdad agree another 4 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Naoufel Khacef and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Squad12 Oct 2026
5 new faces, and CR Belouizdad are still learning each other
A squad rebuilt inside one window pays for it in a currency nobody budgets for. The football is not worse than the sum of the players; it is worse than the sum of the players who have played together before.
Looking ahead12 Oct 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against MC Alger in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
Squad12 Oct 2026
Chouaib Keddad has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
Market12 Oct 2026
The Anes Mokhtar story refuses to die
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Anes Mokhtar signs something — a contract at CR Belouizdad or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match3 Oct 2026
Ninety minutes of very little, and then everything at once. The winner arrived in the 85th, and ES Setif spent what remained of the match appealing to the referee rather than chasing the ball.
Squad5 Oct 2026
6 saves, and a scoreline the ten men in front of him had no right to. Goalkeepers only get noticed on the bad days; this was one of the other ones.
Match3 Oct 2026
Nobody wants to play CR Belouizdad right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Abdelmalek Kelaleche is 21, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CR Belouizdad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The terraces5 Oct 2026
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Siriman Konaté has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Match3 Oct 2026
Three points for CR Belouizdad, 1‑0 the final word against ES Setif in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 18. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Squad5 Oct 2026
The award goes to Farid El Melali, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Match26 Sep 2026
Momentum is a hard thing to buy and an easy thing to lose, and right now CR Belouizdad have 3 straight wins of it.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Successful dribbles: 23. There was always a defender in front of him and there was never a defender in front of him for long.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Naoufel Khacef was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Mohamed Touat is 22, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Ninety minutes of Farid El Melali at his very best
Marked 8.33. Players have careers without a single afternoon like this in them, and he has just had one in front of everybody at CR Belouizdad.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“The players deserve the credit. My job was easy today.” It was not, and everybody in the room knew it; after 2‑0, Riyad Bounedjah could afford to be generous.
The dugout28 Sep 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Franck Etouga, and the manager let it.
Looking ahead28 Sep 2026
He used to wear the other shirt. On Saturday he plays against ES Setif in this one, and whatever he says this week about it being just another game will be untrue.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Player ratings21 Sep 2026
Up for the corner, and Mehdi Boudjemaa delivers — 7.98
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Mehdi Boudjemaa scored, was marked 7.98, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Chouaib Keddad and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The terraces21 Sep 2026
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Match19 Sep 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Mehdi Boudjemaa. 1‑0 against Paradou, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
“That is what I want every week. Not the result, the way they went about it.” The manager, after 1‑0, already talking about the next one.
Market21 Sep 2026
CR Belouizdad have let the market know Naoufel Khacef can be had. No price in the advert, but everyone in the trade knows roughly what it says.
Squad21 Sep 2026
Somebody watched every match in the division at the weekend and decided he was the best thing in any of them. A small honour, and most careers end without one.
Squad21 Sep 2026
The one goal every signing is asked about until it comes. It has come, and a press-conference question has been retired.
The dugout21 Sep 2026
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market14 Sep 2026
So close: Anes Mokhtar’s move dies late
The fee was agreed and the flight was looked at — and then the phone stopped ringing. ES Ben Aknoun moved on, Anes Mokhtar reports back to CR Belouizdad, and everybody pretends Monday is just Monday.
Transfer targets14 Sep 2026
$59.0K was the most the club would pay and MC Alger were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
He is 22 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.43, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
Marked 8.29 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A performance of 8.01 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Riyad Bounedjah kept it short after the 4‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
The dugout14 Sep 2026
There is no complaint available here and everybody involved knows it, which does not make the walk to the bench any shorter. Form is the only currency in football that cannot be borrowed against.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CR Belouizdad can pretend not to have heard.
Market7 Sep 2026
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around CR Belouizdad people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
Deadline passes with 15 signed and 1 gone
That is the business done at CR Belouizdad until the window opens again. Whether it was enough will be answered on Saturdays rather than in a column, and the first Saturday is close.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Mohamed Ali Ben Hammouda and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
$48.0K was the most the club would pay and USM Alger were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
Transfer targets7 Sep 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Yousri Bouzok slips down the pecking order
The demotion a club never announces and a dressing room always notices. Yousri Bouzok is further from the side than he was, and the reason will not be given until he asks.
Squad7 Sep 2026
Too much change too quickly at CR Belouizdad
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
No investment in the facilities at CR Belouizdad
Nothing about this will be in a press release. A plan went upstairs, came back rejected, and the version of the club that would have existed in three years' time just quietly stopped being possible.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market31 Aug 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what CR Belouizdad can pretend not to have heard.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
Everything agreed with Juventude, everything agreed with the player; a doctor is the only person left to persuade. The photograph is a day or two away.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
CS Constantine wanted more than $85.0K and the board would not go there. Walked away, for now, which in a transfer window means until somebody blinks.
Transfer targets31 Aug 2026
CR Belouizdad asked and Stade de Reims said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
Market31 Aug 2026
CR Belouizdad have made Farid Chaâl available for transfer. A career at this club is over in all but paperwork.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market24 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at CR Belouizdad, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Boardroom24 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $60.0K — a club that wants Oualaa Moundhir Bouzekri enough to be asked twice.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Naoufel Khacef and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
The offer went to MC Alger this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets24 Aug 2026
$84.0K was the most the club would pay and Paradou were asking for more. Deals like this are revived in the last week of a window roughly half the time, and everybody involved knows it.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom17 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $50.0K — a club that wants Abdelmoumen Sifour enough to be asked twice.
Squad17 Aug 2026
Naoufel Khacef and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$48.0K on the table at USM Alger. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
$58.0K on the table at USM Alger. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
CR Belouizdad offered $83.0K; MC Oran said it was not close. The manager will be told the money is still there for the right player, which is what managers are told.
Transfer targets17 Aug 2026
CR Belouizdad asked and USM Alger said no without discussing a figure. It is the least ambiguous answer in football and the one clubs most often come back to test.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. MC Oran have kept their man, and CR Belouizdad go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Boardroom10 Aug 2026
The number the board signed off was not enough. It has been asked again and raised its own offer to $50.0K — a club that wants Seif Benrabah enough to be asked twice.
Squad10 Aug 2026
Naoufel Khacef was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
The offer went to MC Oran this week and it is theirs to answer. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loud the door closes.
Transfer targets10 Aug 2026
$48.0K on the table at JS Kabylie. The manager wanted him, the board agreed a number, and the only voices still to be heard are the ones at the other club.
Squad10 Aug 2026
“Some decisions take a long time. This one took ten minutes, and most of that was finding a pen.” Farid El Melali and CR Belouizdad agree another 4 years.
Market10 Aug 2026
There is no fee, no unveiling and no agent on the steps. Houssem Ounas has been at this club since he was a boy and is now, formally, one of the first-team squad — which for a local readership beats any signing of any size.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Nabil Benaceur is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
Market10 Aug 2026
Clubs spend fortunes looking for players and occasionally find one down the corridor. Abdelhak Atal is that, and the reception he gets on his first appearance will be different in kind from the one any signing receives.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Squad3 Aug 2026
“The easiest signature of my career.” Chouaib Keddad and CR Belouizdad agree another 2 years, and the manager can plan around him rather than about him.
Squad3 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at CR Belouizdad this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
The approach was made and the answer came back in a sentence. There is no number on the table because there was no number that would have been enough.
Market3 Aug 2026
“We keep meeting, and we keep leaving the room with the same numbers we walked in with.” Another round of talks at CR Belouizdad, another week without a signature from Chouaib Keddad.
Transfer targets3 Aug 2026
A loan enquiry to Werder Bremen: cover, or a look at somebody the club cannot afford to buy yet. Either way the answer will come back inside the week.
Market3 Aug 2026
49 months left and silence from upstairs — no offer, no talks, nothing for his people to answer. Clubs that let a calendar do their negotiating usually end up negotiating with the calendar.