This archive report was first published on 28 August 2019.
Published on August 28, 2019, USM Alger's financial woes have put the club on the brink of withdrawing from this season's Caf Champions League.
The Algerian club's secretary, Mounir Debichi, emphasized the need for an immediate solution to salvage the team, citing financial difficulties as the reason for their inability to travel to Kenya to play against Gor Mahia.
"Today we qualified for the second round of the Champions League, but we are unable to travel to Kenya to play against Gor Mahia. We can afford to play the first game here. However, it is impossible to travel to Kenya for the second match given our financial difficulties. There has to be immediate solutions or else we forget about the competition," Debichi said.
USM Alger defeated Niger's SONIDEEP in the preliminary round of the competition with a 5-2 aggregate score and are slated to host the Kenyan champions in Algiers on the weekend of September 13-15, with the return leg slated for Nairobi two weeks later.
The aggregate winner over two legs is assured of at least Sh56 million in prize money from the tournament organizers.
USM Alger's financial troubles began in June after the club's owner, Ali Haddad, a key supporter of ousted president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, was jailed for holding two passports, the first conviction in a string of corruption probes.
