Omar Hamadi Stadium () is a

multi-purpose stadium A multi-purpose stadium is a type of stadium designed to be easily used for multiple types of events. While any stadium could potentially host more than one type of sport or event, this concept usually refers to a design philosophy that stres ...

Bologhine Bologhine is a suburb of the city of Algiers 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 ...

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

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 ...

. It is currently used mostly for

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 ...

matches and is the home ground of

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 ...

. The stadium has a capacity of 10,000 people.

History

Opening the stadium

The stadium was built in 1919 as the home ground for l’ Association Sportive Saint Eugénoise. For two years, it was known as Stade Roger Lapergue, and its architecture made it one of the most beautiful stadiums of its time. Originally, it featured two side stands and a party hall. It was later renamed Stade Communal de Saint Eugène, adopting the name of the city. Subsequently, the stadium became available to

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 ...

, becoming a prominent venue in the Algiers League. In 1957, a third stand was constructed an arched structure on the south side with two superimposed tiers connecting the original stands. This addition gave the municipal stadium a modern and distinctive look. After Algeria gained independence in 1962, the city of Saint Eugène was renamed

, reflecting the country’s new identity. The upper gallery of the stadium was severely damaged at the piers during the

1980 El Asnam earthquake The 1980 El Asnam earthquake occurred on October 10 at with a moment magnitude of 7.1 and a maximum Mercalli intensity of X (''Extreme''). The shock occurred in the Algerian town of El Asnam (now known as Chlef). The shocks were felt over away ...

(now

Chlef Chlef () is the capital of Chlef Province, Algeria. Located in the north of Algeria, west of the capital, Algiers, it was founded in 1843, as Orléansville, on the ruins of Roman ''Castellum Tingitanum''. In 1962, it was renamed al-Asnam, but ...

). As a result, it was closed to the public and, after years of neglect and failed restoration efforts, was ultimately demolished in 2003. The stadium hosted the Algerian Cup final once, in

1970 Events January * January 1 – Unix time epoch reached at 00:00:00 UTC. * January 5 – The 7.1 1970 Tonghai earthquake, Tonghai earthquake shakes Tonghai County, Yunnan province, China, with a maximum Mercalli intensity scale, Mercalli ...

, featuring

and CR Belcourt. The match ended in a 4–1 victory for CR Belcourt. In 1998, the stadium was renamed Omar Hamadi Stadium, in honor of Omar Hamadi, a former leader of USM Alger and a revolutionary figure. He was sentenced to death during the

Algerian War of Independence The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

and was later assassinated along with his two sons in Bouzareah (Algiers) by a terrorist group in 1995.

New stand and capacity

In 2000, a new stand was built to expand the capacity of USM Alger's home stadium, increasing it by 8,000 to 10,000 seats. As the club holds the concession for the stadium, it also invested in developing infrastructure to support player recovery and training, including a sauna, gym, and restaurant. In 2015, the stadium hosted the first leg of the CAF Champions League final between

and

TP Mazembe Tout Puissant Mazembe, commonly referred to as TP Mazembe, is a Congolese professional association football, football club based in Lubumbashi. History Tout Puissant Mazembe, the first sports club from the Democratic Republic of the Congo with a ...

, which ended in a 2–1 victory for the latter. On March 9, 2021, the USM Alger administration renewed its rental contract with the

Municipality for Omar Hammadi Stadium for a period of one year, at a rate of 80 million centimes per month. The mayor of Bologhine noted that the State Property Directorate used an outdated assessment, which was based on the stadium's previous capacity of 12,000 spectators before the upper stands were demolished. Currently, the stadium accommodates only 7,500 spectators. In April 2023, a technical expert report on the stadium concluded that it was necessary to demolish three stands the northern, southern, and western because they posed a serious safety risk to supporters.

Reconstruction of the stadium

On August 5, 2024,

announced that the Omar Hamadi Stadium renovation project has officially been relaunched. This project involves the complete demolition of the current stadium and its reconstruction according to modern standards. The Algiers club said "The club's officials did not fail to highlight all the constraints that slowed down the project and expressed their relief regarding the decisions taken by the authorities. The delegation then inspected the stadium and recorded the necessary notes in order to implement the roadmap as quickly as possible, taking into account what would be best for the Club and its supporters." On January 23, 2025, the APC of Bologhine stated that in anticipation of the imminent demolition of the Omar Hamadi Stadium, the 17 residents were verbally informed to leave the building and hand over the keys to the commercial building within two weeks.

External links

StadiumDB page

stade bologhine usmalger

References