Ben Aknoun

The Stade du 20 Août 1955 in Algiers holds 15,000, more than fifty times the capacity of Stade Mohamed Larbi Abada, the ground in Ben Aknoun itself where the club has its roots. ESBA plays its competitive fixtures at the larger venue and leaves the local pitch to everything else.

The rise from there was gradual and did not skip steps. Régionale 2 Alger in 2010–11, Régionale 1 Alger four years later, then the Division d'Honneur in 2016–17 — each title moved the club up exactly one tier. The 2022–23 Ligue 2 Amateur title did more than continue the pattern: it took ES Ben Aknoun into Ligue 1 for the first time in its history. The club finished 15th in that debut top-flight season and went back down, but returned to Ligue 1 in April 2025.

Cup football gave the club its best-known modern result: in 2023–24 ESBA reached the quarter-finals of the Algerian Cup, going out to CS Constantine on penalties after a goalless draw. Earlier runs to the Round of 16, in 1998–99, 2011–12 and 2013–14, mark the closest the club had come before.

Abderahmane Hachoud captains the side and has worn the Algeria shirt four times between 2011 and 2015, the clearest link between the club's suburban roots and the national team. Mounir Zeghdoud took over as head coach in July 2025, arriving as the club tried to hold on to its restored place in the top flight.

ES Ben Aknoun has no fixed derby of its own; being based in Algiers is enough to draw CR Belouizdad, USM Alger and MC Alger onto its fixture list, and the press labels any of those meetings a Derby Algérois.