Algeria national football team

Algeria
Nickname(s) Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes)
Les Verts (The Green Ones)
الخضرة=ⵜⵢⵣⵉⵣⴰ (The Green One)
Les Guerriers du Désert (The Desert Warriors)
Association Fédération Algérienne de Football
Confederation CAF (Africa)
Asst coach Zoheir Djelloul
Captain Antar Yahia
Most caps Mahieddine Meftah (107)
Top scorer Abdelhafid Tasfaout (35)
Home stadium Stade 5 Juillet 1962
FIFA code ALG
FIFA ranking 33
Highest FIFA ranking 26 (December 2009)
Lowest FIFA ranking 103 (June 2008)
Elo ranking 77
Highest Elo ranking 16 (November 1967)
Lowest Elo ranking 105 (July 2008)
Home colours
Away colours
First international
Algeria Algeria 2–1 Bulgaria 
(Algiers, Algeria; 6 January 1963)
Biggest win
Algeria Algeria 15–1 South Yemen 
(Tripoli, Libya; 17 August 1973)
Biggest defeat
 West Germany 5–0 Algeria Algeria
(Cottbus, Germany; 05 May 1980)
World Cup
Appearances 3 (First in 1982)
Best result Round 1, 1982, 1986 and 2010
African Nations Cup
Appearances 14 (First in 1968)
Best result Winners, 1990

The Algeria national football team, nicknamed Les Fennecs (The Desert Foxes), is the national team of Algeria and is controlled by the Fédération Algérienne de Football. Algeria has qualified for three World Cups in 1982 , 1986 and 2010. Algeria also won the Africa Cup of Nations once in 1990 when they hosted the tournament. In November 2009, Algeria beat North African rivals Egypt in a World Cup qualification tiebreaker to secure a place at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

Contents

History

World Cup 1982

Algeria caused one of the great World Cup upsets on the first day of the tournament with a 2–1 victory over reigning European Champions West Germany. In the final match in the group between West Germany and Austria, with Algeria having already played their final group game the day before, the European teams knew that a West German win by 1 or 2 goals would qualify them both, while a larger German victory would qualify Algeria over Austria, and a draw or an Austrian win would eliminate the Germans. After 10 minutes of all-out attack, West Germany scored through a goal by Horst Hrubesch. After the goal was scored, the two teams kicked the ball around aimlessly for the rest of the match. Chants of "Fuera, fuera" ("Out, out") were screamed by the Spanish crowd, while angry Algerian supporters waved banknotes at the players. This performance was widely deplored, even by the German and Austrian fans. One German fan was so upset by his team's display that he burned his German flag in disgust.[1] Algeria protested to FIFA, who ruled that the result be allowed to stand; FIFA introduced a revised qualification system at subsequent World Cups in which the final two games in each group were played simultaneously.

World Cup 1986

In 1984, Algeria took third place in the 1984 African Nations Cup in Côte d'Ivoire. During the 1986 African Nations Cup, the national teams recorded two defeats and one draw and was eliminated in the first round. In Mexico, at the 1986 World Cup, the Algerians were not able to pass the first round once again in a group that included Northern Ireland (1–1 draw), Brazil (1–0 loss), and Spain (3–0 loss). Only one Algerian managed to score during this competition: Djamel Zidane. From thereon, Algeria failed to qualify for another World Cup until 2010.

Africa Cup of Nations 1990

In 1990, Algeria hosted the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations. In Group A, the Algerians started the tournament by beating Nigeria (5–1, with doubles by Djamel Menad and Rabah Madjer and a goal by Djamel Amani), Côte d'Ivoire (3–0, with goals by Djamel Menad, Tahar Cherif El Ouazzani, and Cherif Oudjani) and Egypt (2–0, with goals by Djamel Amani and Moussa Saib). In the semi-finals, Algeria beat Senegal 2–1 (goals by Djamel Menad and Djamel Amani in front of 85,000 fans in the Stade 5 Juillet 1962.

In the final against Nigeria, in front of 200,000 fans in the same stadium, Cherif Oudjani, in the 38th minute, enabled Algeria to win the African Nations Cup for the first time. Djamel Menad was crowned top scorer of the competition with four goals.

1990–2008

Having won an African Nations Cup title, the Algerian team, however, had not managed to qualify for the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. In 1991, the national team won the Afro-Asian Cup of Nations against Iran. As title holders, Algeria disappointed at the 1992 African Nations Cup in Senegal, recording a loss against Côte d'Ivoire (3–0) and a draw against Congo (1–1, with a goal by Nacer Bouiche). In 1994, Algeria was disqualified from the 1994 African Nations Cup in Tunisia due to the use of an ineligible player and failed during the 1994 World Cup qualifiying.

In 1996, Algeria returned to African Cup of Nations, but were eliminated by hosts South Africa in the quarter-finals. The Algerians failed to qualify for the following World Cups in 1998, 2002 and 2006. During the 1998 African Cup of Nations, Algeria finished last in its group with three defeats and was eliminated in the group stage. In the 2000 African Cup of Nations, the Fennecs managed to pass to the first round only to lose to Cameroon (2–1). Algeria once more failed to pass the first round in the African competition in 2002 but managed to get to the quarter-finals in 2004; however, they were eliminated by Morocco by a score of 3–1 after extra-time (the lone Algerian goal was scored by Abdelmalek Cherrad. Algeria failed to qualify for the following two Africa Cup of Nations in 2006 and 2008 although Algeria did manage to qualify for the 2010 world cup.

World Cup 2010 qualifiers

Algeria fans at a friendly vs. Republic of Ireland in Dublin.

On 11 October 2008, Algeria returned to the top 20 African teams by finishing first in their group ahead of Senegal, Gambia, and Liberia for the second round on the combined 2010 World Cup and 2010 African Cup of Nations qualifications. In the third and final round of the qualifiers, Algeria was joined by Zambia, Rwanda, and Egypt. In July 2009, Algeria made their return amongst the world's top fifty after a 3–1 win against the double African champions Egypt and a 2–0 away win against Zambia. Beating Zambia in Blida 1–0 followed by a 3–1 win against Rwanda, Algeria ensured that the qualification for the World Cup would go down to the wire with a final encounter against Egypt in Cairo, where nothing less than a loss by three goals would stop the Fennecs from going to South Africa. Prior to the game the Algerian team bus was attacked, leaving several team members injured. This led to a diplomatic row between the two countries. Algeria lost the game 2–0. Algeria won the resulting play off in Sudan 1–0. Algeria moved to the 29th position in FIFA ranking – one place behind Egypt in the October 2009 ranking. In November 2009, they beat fierce rivals Egypt in a playoff 2010 World Cup in South Africa and moved to the highest FIFA ranking ever reached by Algeria (26) in December 2009.[2][3]

They were drawn in Group C, where they faced England, the United States, and Slovenia.

Africa Cup of Nations 2010

The team put on a mixed performance in the tournament. Being drawn in Group A, with Angola, Malawi and Mali, Algeria started poorly by losing 3–0 to group outsiders Malawi. However, they improved in the following game against Mali, beating them 1–0 thanks to a Rafik Halliche header. In the last match, they drew 0–0 with Angola, which sent them to the second round, finishing with the same amount of points as Mali, but with a superior head-to-head record. Playing in Cabinda, Algeria faced Côte d'Ivoire in the quarterfinals, who were considered heavy favourites to qualify. But they got a historic win. After trailing 1–0, Karim Matmour equalized, but Keita gave the Ivorians the lead in the 89th minute, a goal which seemed sure to seal their victory. However, the Algerians equalized with Madjid Bougherra just 2 minutes later in added time, and Hameur Bouazza gave the Fennecs the lead in extra time. Algeria faced Egypt in the semi finals, Egypt, in their first meeting since the World Cup qualification play-off. In a controversial match, Egypt won 4–0 which was the biggest margin in the history of the teams' meetings. Algeria lost 1–0 to Nigeria in the third place game and finished fourth in the competition.

FIFA World Cup 2010

Algeria vs England in the 2010 FIFA World Cup

Algeria was drawn in Group C with England, USA, Slovenia. In their first game they lost to Slovenia 0–1. The match was scoreless until Slovenia's captain Robert Koren scored in the 79th minute after Abdelkader Ghezzal was sent off for his second bookable offence. In their second group game, Algeria drew with England. The Fennecs lost their final group game to the United States 1–0 thanks to a Landon Donovan winner in second-half injury time.

Honours

World Cups:
African Competitions:
  • 1 Time Champion of Africa Cup of Nations (Algeria 1990)
  • 1 Time Runners-Up of Africa Cup of Nations (Nigeria 1980)
Arab Competitions:
  • 1 Time Bronze Medalist at the Pan Arab Games (Morocco 1985 )
Afro-Asian Cup of Nations :
  • 1 Time Champion (1991)

Competitive record

World Cup

FIFA World Cup
Year Round Position GP W D L GS GA
1930 to 1962 Not a FIFA member - - - - - - -
England 1966 Withdrew - - - - - - -
1970 to 1978 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
Spain 1982 Round 1 13 3 2 0 1 5 5
Mexico 1986 Round 1 22 3 0 1 2 1 5
1990 to 2006 Did not qualify - - - - - - -
South Africa 2010 Round 1 28 3 0 1 2 0 2
Total 3/19 9 2 2 5 6 12

Olympic Games

Olympic Games
Host nation(s) / Year Result GP W D* L GS GA
Greece 1896 to Japan 1964 Did not enter - - - - - -
1968 to 1976 Did not qualify - - - - - -
Soviet Union 1980 Quarter-final 4 1 1 2 4 5
1984 to 2008 Did not qualify - - - - - -
Total 1/25 4 1 1 2 4 5

Africa Cup of Nations Record

African Cup of Nations
Year Position Year Position Year Position
Sudan 1957 Did not enter Ethiopia 1976 Did not qualify Tunisia 1994 Disqualified
Egypt 1959 Did not enter Ghana 1978 Did not qualify South Africa 1996 Quarter-finals
Ethiopia 1962 Did not enter Nigeria 1980 Second place Burkina Faso 1998 Round 1
Ghana 1963 Did not enter Libya 1982 Fourth place GhanaNigeria 2000 Quarter-finals
Tunisia 1965 Did not enter Côte d'Ivoire 1984 Third place Mali 2002 Round 1
Ethiopia 1968 Round 1 Egypt 1986 Round 1 Tunisia 2004 Quarter-finals
Sudan 1970 Did not qualify Morocco 1988 Third Place Egypt 2006 Did not qualify
Cameroon 1972 Did not qualify Algeria 1990 Winner Ghana 2008 Did not qualify
Egypt 1974 Did not qualify Senegal 1992 Round 1 Angola 2010 Fourth place

2010 FIFA World Cup

Qualification


Group C

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Algeria 6 4 1 1 9 4 +5 13
 Egypt 6 4 1 1 9 4 +5 13
 Zambia 6 1 2 3 2 5 −3 5
 Rwanda 6 0 2 4 1 8 −7 2
  Algeria Egypt Rwanda Zambia
Algeria  3 – 1 3 – 1 1 – 0
Egypt  2 – 0 3 – 0 1 – 1
Rwanda  0 – 0 0 – 1 0 – 0
Zambia  0 – 2 0 – 1 1 – 0

2010 FIFA World Cup
Group C

Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 United States 3 1 2 0 4 3 +1 5
 England 3 1 2 0 2 1 +1 5
 Slovenia 3 1 1 1 3 3 0 4
 Algeria 3 0 1 2 0 2 −2 1
13 June 2010
13:30
Algeria  0 – 1  Slovenia Peter Mokaba Stadium, Polokwane
Attendance: 30,325
Referee: Carlos Batres
Report Koren Goal 79'

18 June 2010
20:30
England  0 – 0  Algeria Cape Town Stadium, Cape Town
Attendance: 64,100
Referee: Ravshan Irmatov
Report

23 June 2010
16:00
United States  1 – 0  Algeria Loftus Versfeld Stadium, Pretoria
Attendance: 35,827
Referee: Frank De Bleeckere (Belgium)
Donovan Goal 90+1' Report

Results and Fixtures

Algerian National Team Results and Fixtures.[4]

Results

Date Location Home Team Score Away Team Occasion
12 August 2009 Algiers Algeria Algeria 1–0  Uruguay Friendly match
6 September 2009 Blida Algeria Algeria 1–0  Zambia 2010 World Cup/2010 African Cup Qualifiers
11 October 2009 Blida Algeria Algeria 3–1  Rwanda 2010 World Cup/2010 African Cup Qualifiers
14 November 2009 Cairo  Egypt 2–0 Algeria Algeria 2010 World Cup/2010 African Cup Qualifiers
18 November 2009 Umm Durmān  Egypt 0–1 Algeria Algeria 2010 World Cup/2010 African Cup Qualifiers
11 January 2010 Luanda  Malawi 3–0 Algeria Algeria 2010 Africa Cup of Nations – GS
14 January 2010 Luanda  Mali 0–1 Algeria Algeria 2010 Africa Cup of Nations – GS
18 January 2010 Luanda  Angola 0–0 Algeria Algeria 2010 Africa Cup of Nations – GS
24 January 2010 Cabinda  Côte d'Ivoire 2 – 3 (AET) Algeria Algeria 2010 Africa Cup of Nations – QF
28 January 2010 Benguela Algeria Algeria 0–4  Egypt 2010 Africa Cup of Nations – SF
30 January 2010 Benguela  Nigeria 1–0 Algeria Algeria 2010 Africa Cup of Nations – TPM
3 March 2010 Algiers Algeria Algeria 0–3  Serbia Friendly match
28 May 2010 Dublin Algeria Algeria 0–3  Republic of Ireland Friendly match
5 June 2010 Fürth Algeria Algeria 1–0  United Arab Emirates Friendly match
13 June 2010 Polokwane Algeria Algeria 0–1  Slovenia 2010 FIFA World Cup
18 June 2010 Cape Town Algeria Algeria 0–0  England 2010 FIFA World Cup
23 June 2010 Pretoria Algeria Algeria 0–1  United States 2010 FIFA World Cup

2012 African Cup of Nations (Qualification)

Group D

Team Pld W D L GF GA GD Pts
 Algeria 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Morocco 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Tanzania 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
 Central African Republic 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
3/4/5 September 2010
Algeria Algeria 1-1  Tanzania Stade Mustapha Tchaker, Blida

8/9/10 October 2010
Central African Republic  v Algeria Algeria Barthelemy Boganda Stadium, Bangui

27 March 2011
Algeria Algeria v  Morocco Stade 5 Juillet 1962, Algiers

3/4/5 June 2011
Morocco  v Algeria Algeria Stade Moulay Abdellah, Rabat

2/3/4 September 2011
Tanzania  v Algeria Algeria Benjamin Mkapa National Stadium, Dar-es-Salaam

7/8/9 October 2011
Algeria Algeria v  Central African Republic Stade 5 Juillet 1962, Algiers

Current squad

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club
1 GK Lounès Gaouaoui September 28, 1977 (1977-09-28) (age 33) 49 0 Algeria ASO Chlef
16 GK Mohamed Lamine Zemmamouche February 1, 1985 (1985-02-01) (age 26) 2 0 Algeria MC Algiers
23 GK Raïs M'Bolhi April 25, 1986 (1986-04-25) (age 24) 5 0 Bulgaria CSKA Sofia
2 DF Madjid Bougherra October 7, 1982 (1982-10-07) (age 28) 46 4 Scotland Rangers
3 DF Nadir Belhadj June 18, 1982 (1982-06-18) (age 28) 50 5 Qatar Al-Sadd
4 DF Antar Yahia March 21, 1982 (1982-03-21) (age 28) 46 5 Germany Bochum
5 DF Rafik Halliche September 2, 1986 (1986-09-02) (age 24) 21 1 England Fulham
12 DF Habib Bellaid March 28, 1986 (1986-03-28) (age 24) 1 0 France Sedan
14 DF Abdelkader Laïfaoui July 29, 1981 (1981-07-29) (age 29) 7 0 Algeria ES Sétif
18 DF Carl Medjani May 15, 1985 (1985-05-15) (age 25) 2 0 France Ajaccio
20 DF Djamel Mesbah October 9, 1984 (1984-10-09) (age 26) 3 0 Italy Lecce
7 MF Ryad Boudebouz February 19, 1990 (1990-02-19) (age 20) 5 0 France Sochaux
8 MF Mehdi Lacen March 5, 1984 (1984-15-05) (age 26) 6 0 Spain Racing de Santander
15 MF Karim Ziani August 17, 1982 (1982-08-17) (age 28) 59 5 Germany Wolfsburg
17 MF Adlène Guedioura November 12, 1985 (1985-11-12) (age 25) 7 1 England Wolverhampton Wanderers
19 MF Hassan Yebda April 14, 1984 (1984-04-14) (age 26) 14 0 Italy Napoli
21 MF Foued Kadir December 5, 1983 (1983-12-05) (age 27) 6 0 France Valenciennes
22 MF Djamel Abdoun February 14, 1986 (1986-02-14) (age 24) 10 0 Greece Kavala
9 FW Abdelkader Ghezzal December 5, 1984 (1984-12-05) (age 26) 23 3 Italy Bari
13 FW Karim Matmour June 24, 1985 (1985-06-24) (age 25) 26 2 Germany Borussia Mönchengladbach
11 FW Rafik Djebbour March 8, 1984 (1984-03-08) (age 26) 20 4 Greece AEK Athens
24 FW Abdelmalek Ziaya January 24, 1984 (1984-01-24) (age 27) 5 0 Saudi Arabia Ittihad Jeddah

Recent call-ups

0#0 Pos. Player Date of Birth (Age) Caps Goals Club
DF Mohamed Chakouri May 21, 1986 (1986-05-21) (age 24) 0 0 Belgium Charleroi
MF Lazhar Hadj Aïssa March 23, 1984 (1984-03-23) (age 26) 6 0 Algeria ES Sétif
MF Khaled Lemmouchia May 29, 1981 (1981-05-29) (age 29) 13 0 Algeria ES Sétif
MF Hameur Bouazza February 22, 1985 (1985-02-22) (age 25) 15 2 France Arles-Avignon
MF Yacine Bezzaz July 10, 1981 (1981-07-10) (age 29) 21 3 France Troyes
MF Mourad Meghni April 16, 1984 (1984-04-16) (age 26) 9 0 Italy Lazio
FW Kamel Ghilas March 9, 1984 (1984-03-09) (age 26) 16 3 France Arles-Avignon
FW Chadli Amri December 14, 1984 (1984-12-14) (age 26) 10 0 Germany Kaiserslautern

.

All-time record against FIFA recognized nations

(a) Denotes defunct national football team.
(b) Includes games against USSR.
(c) Includes games against Yugoslavia

Player records

Top goalscorers

# Name Career Goals Goals per game Caps
1 Abdelhafid Tasfaout 1990–2002 35 0.40 88
2 Lakhdar Belloumi 1978–1989 34 0.38 89
3 Rabah Madjer 1978–1992 29 0.35 83
4 Djamel Menad 1982–1995 24 0.30 80
5 Tedj Bensaoula 1979–1986 22 0.46 48
6 Rafik Saifi 1999–2010 18 0.34 53
7 Salah Assad 1978–1988 13 0.21 67
8 Hacène Lalmas 1964–1974 12 0.35 34
9 Ali Mecabih 1995–2003 10 0.40 25
10 Billel Dziri 1993–2002 9 0.10 87

Bold denotes players still playing or available for selection.

Most capped

# Player Career Caps Goals
1 Mahieddine Meftah 1989–2002 107 4
2 Lakhdar Belloumi 1978–1989 89 34
3 Abdelhafid Tasfaout 1991–2002 88 35
4 Billel Dziri 1992–2005 87 9
5 Rabah Madjer 1978–1992 83 29
6 Djamel Menad 1980–1995 80 24
7 Fodil Megharia 1984–1992 73 0
8 Mahmoud Guendouz 1977–1986 71 4
9 Salah Assad 1977–1989 67 13
Yazid Mansouri 2001–2010 67 0

Mahieddine Meftah is the most capped player of the Algerian national team with 107 official selections. However Lakhdar Belloumi played 147 international matches, but only 89 games are recognized by FIFA.

The caps and goals for Algeria, As of 12 August.

Manager history

World Cup squads

Olympic Games football Tournament squads

Cup of Nations squads

Kit suppliers

Titles

Preceded by
1988 Cameroon 
Africa Cup of Nations
1990
Succeeded by
1992 Côte d'Ivoire 
Preceded by
1988 Korea Republic 
Afro-Asian Cup of Nations
1991
Succeeded by
1993 Japan 

See also

References

  1. Booth, Lawrence; Smyth, Rob (11 August 2004). "What's the dodgiest game in football history?". guardian.co.uk (Guardian News and Media). http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2004/aug/11/theknowledge.sport. Retrieved 25 February 2009. 
  2. "Yahia sends Algeria to World Cup". BBC Sport. 2009-11-18. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/africa/8367431.stm. Retrieved 2009-11-19. 
  3. "Yahia cracker seals play-off win". ESPN. 2009-11-18. http://soccernet.espn.go.com/report?id=285045&cc=5739. Retrieved 2009-11-19. 
  4. [1] fifa.com

External links