This article is part of our #TalentsAlgeriens series, highlighting 25 young players to watch in Algeria’s Ligue 1 this season. The ranking is necessarily subjective and considers more than natural ability, including potential, expected involvement at club level and the role the 2026/27 campaign could play in each player’s development.
For the sixth instalment, ranked 20th, the focus is on Benhakim Hamouda, the promising MC Oran midfielder whose football has made a stronger impression than his words.
Hamouda first came to the attention of Aziz Lahoussine during a scouting operation in Oran to identify the best young players in western Algeria. His physical appearance did not immediately suggest a standout talent. Born in 2008, he was still very young and relatively small.
But his relationship with the ball was impossible to ignore.
Lahoussine, a former Algeria Under-17 coach who has also worked with the youth teams of MC Alger and USMA, quickly decided that Hamouda should play alongside the 2007-born players rather than remain with his own age group.
That early promotion proved to be an important step in a rapid rise. Hamouda is now a professional player and training within the first-team environment at MC Oran, although a series of injuries and setbacks have interrupted his progress. For those who watched him at youth level, however, his emergence has come as no surprise.
Lahoussine speaks about his former player with particular warmth. In a testimony given to Africafoot, he recalled discovering Hamouda in Oran and immediately recognising that he possessed unusual technical ability. Hamouda was not merely called up to the squad; he was moved up an age group and soon became one of Lahoussine’s trusted players.
He was even given the captain’s armband, despite being younger than many of his team-mates.
That decision captured one of the defining contrasts in Hamouda’s character. Away from the pitch, he is quiet, reserved and rarely seeks attention. He does not lead through constant instruction or by dominating conversations.
With the ball at his feet, his personality changes.
Coaches who have followed his development agree that Hamouda is difficult to place in a single midfield role. Lahoussine does not view him as a specialist ball-winner, but neither does he consider him a conventional number 10. Instead, he sees a player capable of influencing several areas of the pitch while still carrying out his defensive duties.
Hamouda’s ability to move with the ball is central to his game. Bachir Mecheri, a former MC Oran youth coach who worked with him in the Under-21 side when he was not involved with the senior team, has also highlighted his capacity to drive the team forward from midfield.
Mecheri believes that quality helps Hamouda break lines, carry possession into more advanced areas and give his side a different route through the centre of the pitch. Just as importantly, the youngster does not simply disappear when possession is lost. He is expected to recover his position and contribute to the defensive phase as well.
Sofiane Benkhelifa, a coach and youth developer who has worked with USMA, Olympique Akbou and ES Setif, uses a similarly straightforward description of Hamouda’s influence. He has also expressed regret that he was unable to bring the player to another club.
MC Oran recognised Hamouda’s potential early enough to offer him a professional contract while he was still playing in the cadet categories.
Lahoussine has occasionally compared aspects of Hamouda’s game with Luka Modric, although he is careful not to suggest that an 18-year-old is already at the level of the Croatian Ballon d’Or winner. The comparison relates mainly to certain qualities associated with a modern box-to-box midfielder, particularly Hamouda’s striking ability.
Lahoussine sees relatively few major weaknesses in his former captain’s football. Heading is one area that still requires improvement, but the more significant challenge lies elsewhere.
The issue is not commitment. Lahoussine describes Hamouda as a player who has never used his talent as an excuse to reduce his effort. His next step is to become more assertive and influential within matches.
At MC Oran, Tahar Cherif El Ouazzani is preparing him for a gradual transition into senior football. The club’s coach describes Hamouda as “un meneur de jeu plein de qualites et d’enthousiasme, intelligent dans le jeu” and has also stressed that injuries and repeated setbacks have disrupted his development.
Mecheri shares that confidence in the midfielder’s prospects.
At 18, Hamouda is not expected to accelerate beyond his natural timetable. Yet his career so far has repeatedly placed him ahead of schedule: he was promoted to an older age group in international football, captained players senior to him, signed professionally while still a youth player and entered MC Oran’s senior setup earlier than anticipated.
The next stage will demand more than technical promise. Hamouda must now take greater responsibility among experienced midfielders, ask for the ball, stand by his decisions and gradually make his voice heard.
Or he can continue to rely on the language he already speaks most effectively: his football.
A profile of Abderrahmene Boungab is also available as part of the #TalentsAlgeriens series.