RC Kouba · Raed Chabab Kouba
Official name: Raed Chabab Kouba (رائد شباب القبة), abbreviated RC Kouba or RCK. A club founded in 1945 in Kouba (Algiers), famous for its green-and-white colours and its pioneering youth academy.
Club identity card
| Item | Detail | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Full name | Raed Chabab Kouba ("the Pioneer of Kouba's youth") | Verified |
| Arabic name | رائد شباب القبة | Verified |
| Founded | 28 February 1945, Oued Kniss quarter (Kouba, Algiers), as Riadha Club de Kouba | Verified |
| Founders | Mustapha Benouenniche (first president), Abdennour Sator, Oudahmane Boussad, Sid Ahmed Benouenniche, Mahfoud Ahmed Saadi, Mohamed Belhaffaf | Verified |
| Colours | Green and white · the green is said to echo the dome of Kouba's historic mosque | Verified |
| Nicknames | "Le Raed", "El Khadra", "the Kouba school" | |
| Stadium | Mohamed Benhaddad Stadium (Kouba) | Verified |
| Current division | Ligue 2 Amateur (LNFA), Centre-West group · 2026-27 season | Verified |
| President | Salim Messani (since at least 2025) | |
| Head coach | Mohamed Manaâ (appointed summer 2026) | Verified |
Last updated: 2026-08-01 · Season 2026-2027 · Ligue 2 Amateur (LNFA)
A "pioneer" club: the meaning of a name
"Raed" (رائد) means "pioneer" and the name is deserved. Created at the height of the colonial era as a Muslim club with an entirely Algerian membership, Riadha Club de Kouba was a space of popular affirmation before becoming, after independence, a laboratory of the national game. In 1964 the club founded Algeria's first football academy · the matrix of what the press would call "the Kouba school", credited with producing a great many internationals across all age groups. Verified
During the sports reform of the 1970s, the club played as Raed Solb Kouba ("Solb": steel, from the industrial sponsorships of the era) · the name under which it was crowned champion in 1981. A "Naphte Riadhi" episode tied to an oil-industry sponsorship is also mentioned.
Name evolution
- 1945 · Riadha Club de Kouba (football and boxing) Verified
- 1970s · Raed Solb Kouba (RSK), the industrial-sponsorship era Verified
- After 1987 · back to Raed Chabab Kouba (RCK)
Great eras
1945-1962 · Origins
From neighbourhood championships to the Algiers league: Kouba's Muslim club grows in the shadow of colonisation, until the great turning point of independence.
1965-1985 · The golden age
Twenty consecutive top-flight seasons, twice runners-up (1967, 1975), the 1981 title and the Super Cup: the Raed at the summit of Algerian football.
1987 · today · Trials and rebirths
The 1987 tragedy, the yo-yo years, the 2008 case, then patient rebuilding in Ligue 2: a club still standing, carried by its town.
The developer of talent
RCK's pride is not only in its trophies: it lies in its coaches, its youth categories and the generations trained at the Benhaddad stadium. The 1964 academy, created under founding president Mustapha Benouenniche, made the club a national reference in youth development; the press speaks of more than 120 internationals who passed through Kouba's ranks across all categories.
This portal documents that sporting heritage: club legends, historical statistics and the virtual museum.