# 1998 Championnat National 1 final

The 1998 Division 1 final was the third final of the Algerian Championnat. The match took place on June 29, 1998, at Stade 5 Juillet 1962 in Algiers with kick-off at 14:00. USM El Harrach beat USM Alger 3-0 to win their first Algerian Championnat.

## Venues
### Stade 5 Juillet 1962

The 5 July 1962 Stadium (Arabic: ملعب 5 جويلية 1962), (the name refers to 5 July 1962, the day Algeria declared independence), is a football and athletics stadium located in Algiers, Algeria. The stadium was inaugurated in 1972 with a capacity of 95,000. It served as the main stadium of the 1975 Mediterranean Games, the 1978 All-Africa Games, the 2004 Pan Arab Games, and the 2007 All-Africa Games. The stadium was one of two venues of the 1990 African Cup of Nations (the other venue was the 19 May 1956 Stadium in Annaba). It hosted 9 matches of the tournament, including the final match, which had a second record attendance of 105,302 spectators. In the final match, the home team Algeria defeated Nigeria 1–0 to win the tournament.

## Division 1
### Group A

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | USM El Harrach (Q) | 14 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 17 | 7 | +10 | 25 | Qualified for the championship final |
| 2 | CS Constantine | 14 | 7 | 4 | 3 | 16 | 11 | +5 | 25 | |
| 3 | WA Tlemcen (Q) | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 17 | 12 | +5 | 21 | 1999 African Cup Winners' Cup |
| 4 | MC Oran | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 20 | 19 | +1 | 18 | |
| 5 | CA Batna | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 14 | 14 | 0 | 18 | |
| 6 | CR Belouizdad | 14 | 5 | 2 | 7 | 17 | 19 | −2 | 17 | |
| 7 | MO Constantine | 14 | 4 | 3 | 7 | 11 | 19 | −8 | 15 | |
| 8 | US Chaouia | 14 | 2 | 6 | 6 | 9 | 18 | −9 | 12 | |

### Group B

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification |
| 1 | USM Alger (Q) | 14 | 6 | 7 | 1 | 16 | 10 | +6 | 25 | Qualified for the championship final |
| 2 | JS Kabylie | 14 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 14 | 11 | +3 | 22 | |
| 3 | ES Mostaganem | 14 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 16 | +4 | 21 | |
| 4 | ES Sétif | 14 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 15 | 15 | 0 | 18 | |
| 5 | MC Alger | 14 | 3 | 7 | 4 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 16 | |
| 6 | AS Aïn M'lila | 14 | 2 | 9 | 3 | 8 | 11 | −3 | 15 | |
| 7 | WA Boufarik | 14 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 11 | 12 | −1 | 12 | |
| 8 | USM Blida | 14 | 1 | 9 | 4 | 9 | 13 | −4 | 12 | |

## Championship final
### Summary

This is the third final in history and the first since 1964. USMA previously played the first final in 1963 against MC Alger. At the beginning of the first half, USM Alger took control of the course of the half and the most dangerous opportunity was for Mahieddine Meftah after he committed a foul that hit the crossbar. In the 36th minute Mohamed Manga played the ball across the USM El Harrach penalty area which ended up being hit by Redha Zouani, who managed to direct a header towards goal but straight at Ould Mata. At the last minute Ryad Bencheikha earned a penalty kick but goalkeeper Farid Belmellat was saved it, ending the first half with a score of 1–0 for l'USMA, with USM El Harrach playing defensively to prevent USM Alger from gaining momentum.
In the second half and in the 65th minute Zouani playing a low cross towards Manga in the penalty area who managed to tuck the ball into the net to make it 2–0. In the last twenty minutes, USM El Harrach achieved the remontada, scoring the first goal in the 69th minute through Rafik Diab. Four minutes later Ammar Boutaleb equalized the score from a penalty kick, and in the 80th minute Bencheikha scored the third goal. In the last minute USMA won a penalty kick which was taken by Mounir Zeghdoud, but Ould Mata saved it and the match was brought to an end with USM El Harrach winning 3–2 achieving the first title in its history.

### Details

| USM El Harrach | USM Alger |
Slimane Ould Mata :
| | | Hichem Yahia |
| | | Kamel Benaissi | 27' |
| | | Sid Ali Kasri |
| | | Toufik Kabri | 15' |
| | | Rafik Diab |
| | | Nacereddine Meraga | | 61' |
| | | Khaled Lounici (c) | 37' |
| FW | | Azeddine Fekid |
| | 17 | Mustapha Kerrache | | 64' |
| FW | 11 | Ryad Bencheikha | 81' | 84' |
| Substitutes : |||
| FW | | Mohamed Rahem | | 61' |
| FW | | Ammar Boutaleb | | 64' |
| FW | | Mohamed Ould Ameur | | 84' |
| | | Othmane Amirat |
| | | Hakim Diguer |
| | | Mourad Boukellal |
| GB | | El-Hadi Lamrani |
| Manager : |||
| Mustapha Heddane ||||
Farid Belmellat :
| DF | 5 | Mounir Zeghdoud |
| DF | 4 | Fayçal Hamdani (c) | | 87' |
| DF | 6 | Mahieddine Meftah |
| DF | 2 | Mohamed Hamdoud |
| DF | | Foued Smati | 58' |
| MF | 3 | Rachid Boumrar |
| MF | 8 | Billel Dziri |
| MF | | Farid Djahnine | | 81' |
| FW | 10 | Redha Zouani | | 68' |
| FW | 7 | Mohamed Manga | 37' |
| Substitutes : |||
| DF | | Abdelouahab Tizarouine | | 87' |
| FW | | Tarek Hadj Adlane | | 68' |
| MF | | Nabil Mehdaoui | | 81' |
| GK | | Ait Amrouche |
| MF | | Samir Sloukia |
| MF | | Sid Ahmed Marcel |
| MF | | Hamid Aït Belkacem |
| Manager : |||
| Younès Ifticen ||||
| Assistant referees: Oukil Briksi Fourth official: Mohamed Youbi | Match rules 90 minutes. Penalty shoot-out if scores still level. Seven named substitutes, of which up to three may be used. |