MC Alger Vs USM Alger: Pride on display at Algerian football derby

MC Alger and USM Alger may be fierce city rivals from the Algerian capital but they nonetheless share a history intwined with their country's revolt against French colonialism.

Thursday marks the 100th derby between the bitterly divided neighbours from the Algiers port communities of Casbah and Bab El Oued.

And while this particular derby can divide families to the point of fisticuffs, the two sides share an eerily similar past of politically motivated struggle.

Mouloudia Club d'Alger is the older of the two whose name is a reference to the birth of the Islamic prophet Muhammad.

They were founded in 1921 and even play in the green of Islam, alongside white and red, thus making up the colours of the national flag.

They claim to be the first Muslim football club formed in then-colonised Algeria.

Not to be outdone, Union Sportive Medina d'Alger were originally named Union Sportive Musulman (Muslim) at their founding in 1937.

Originally decked out in a red strip, they added black as a sign of eternal mourning in memory of those killed in the Setif Massacres in 1945, sparked after local French police fired on anti-colonialisation protestors.

Algerian women walk past a shop bearing the colours of the Union Sportive Medina d'Alger (USMA) football club in the old Soustara neighbourhood of Algiers on October 11, 2016 (AFP)