JS Kabylie
Algeria
Ligue Professionnelle 1
Est: 1946
Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie (Kabyle: Ilemẓiyen inaddalen n leqvayel; Tamazight: ⵉⵍⵎⵣⵢⵏ ⵉⵏⴰⴷⴰⵍⵏ ⵏ ⵍⵇⵠⴰⵢⵍ; Arabic: شبيبة القبائل), known as JS Kabylie or simply JSK, is an Algerian professional football club based in Tizi Ouzou, Kabylia. The club is named after the cultural, natural and historical region (Kabylia) that is home to the Kabyle Berber people speaking Kabyle (the ⵊ ⵙ ⴽ in the center of the club's logo represents J S K in the Tifinagh alphabet and the Yaz (ⵣ) at the bottom of the club's logo is the most famous Amazigh (Berber) symbol considered to be the symbol of the Berber language and culture in North Africa, which gives a representation of the free person). The club was founded in 1946 and its colours are yellow and green. The club currently plays in the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1, the top tier of Algerian football. Since the start of the 2024–25 season, the club has played its home games at the Hocine Aït Ahmed Stadium.
JS Kabylie is the most successful Algerian club at the national level, having won the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1 title a record 14 times, the Algerian Cup five times, the Algerian League Cup once and the Algerian Super Cup once. At the national level, JS Kabylie also won an unofficial title of the Trophée des Champions once. It is the only Algerian club to have never been relegated to the second division, with a record of 57 consecutive seasons, at the highest level, since the 1969–70 season.
JS Kabylie is also the most successful Algerian club at the African level, having won a number of African titles, including the most prestigious African competition CAF Champions League twice in 1981 and 1990, the African Cup Winners' Cup once in 1995 (the only Algerian club to have won this African competition), the CAF Cup a record three times in 2000, 2001 and 2002 and the first ever (albeit unofficial) African Super Cup once in 1982 during the Tournament of Fraternity.
JS Kabylie has a total of 28 major trophies recognized by FIFA (record in Algeria).
At the African level, JS Kabylie is the most successful Algerian club, but also the one that has played the most matches in African competitions and one of only two African clubs to have won all three different African competitions before 2005 (CAF Champions League, African Cup Winners' Cup and CAF Cup). It is also one of only two clubs in Africa to hold the record of winning an African competition three times in a row. According to CAF, these performances rank the club among the 10 best African clubs of the 20th century occupying 9th place (8th overall). The IFFHS ranks JS Kabylie in Africa in 8th place during the 20th century and in 7th place during the first decade of the 21st century (2001–2010). JS Kabylie is elected by the IFFHS as the best Algerian club of the 20th century. In Africa, JS Kabylie is the 6th most successful club, with seven African titles.
JS Kabylie whose popularity extends well beyond the borders of the Tizi Ouzou Province, is fervently supported throughout the Kabylia region. Its history and colours are very present in the popular imagination and Kabyle folklore. They participate in a symbolism transcending the sporting domain and are often claimed as an identity marker of the Berber cause. Following numerous events that took place in Kabylia in the 1980s (Berber Spring), and because the name of this club includes the word « Kabylie », it has since been considered by some regionalists as being the torchbearer of politico-cultural ideas of the Kabylia region and the symbol of its Kabyle cultural identity struggle.
Jeunesse Sportive de Kabylie had several names during its existence such as the Jamiat Sari' Kawkabi from 1974 to 1977, the Jeunesse Électronique de Tizi-Ouzou, with the abbreviation JET from 1977 to 1987 and also covered a short period of two calendar years between 1987 and 1989, the name of Jeunesse Sportive de Tizi-Ouzou, with the abbreviation JST.
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