Football in Algeria

Beginning

On 11 April 1882, during the French occupation of Algeria era, the first Algerian club was formed in Oran. L'Oranaise Club was founded by European settlers, it's one of the first clubs on the entire African continent.^[3] On 5 February 1894, Club des Joyeusetés d'Oran, was founded in the neighborhood El-Derb of Oran. It was followed in the same year by the Club Athlétique Liberté d'Oran (CAL Oran), formed in 1897 by European settlers too in the neighborhood Saint-Antoine of Oran under the name Club Athlétique d'Oran. These are the first clubs in the country and the Maghreb.^[4] Other clubs will follow later, and will be created in various cities including Oran.

In 1898 the first Muslim football club, CS Constantine, was created in Constantine under the name of IKBAL Emancipation.^[5]

In 1911 the French Football Federation created a North African Championship representing the third French division (honor league), which became an official competition in 1921 after creation in 1920 of the three regional leagues in Oran, Algiers and Constantine. The winner of each league qualified for the North African Championship.

After independence

The Algerian Football Federation was founded in 1963 in order to organise national competitions and international matches. The first national championship and the cup started immediately after independence in 1962.

List of football clubs in Algeria by major honours won

Non-CAF competition

The 1982 African Super Cup is a match which took place on January 25, 1982 during the Tournament of Fraternity in Abidjan, Ivory Coast. JS Kabylie won this trophy against the Cameroonians of Union Douala.^[6] The newspaper France Football commented on this event of the birth of the brand new African Super Cup.^[7] This African trophy won by the JSK is one of the 7 African titles won in its history and one of the 28 major trophies won by the Kabyle club.

Legends

FLN team

In 1958, a representative selection of Algeria's National Team (FLN football team) is secretly created by the National Liberation Front (FLN) to serve the cause of Algeria.^[8] it is composed essentially of professional players who play in the French league such Rachid Mekhloufi. The team played its first international game in a group test before its creation in 1957 in Tunis against Tunisia. Its played several friendly matches with high level national teams and clubs.

Algeria national team

After independence in 1962, Algeria's national team replace the FLN football team. This team saw its period of greatest success in the 1980s with great players such Lakhdar Belloumi, Rabah Madjer, Salah Assad. Algeria qualified for the FIFA World Cup in 1982 and 1986, 2010 and 2014 and qualified to second round in 2014 World Cup after defeating 4-2 South Korea and 1-1 drawing with Russia. The team was eliminated by Germany, crowned as champions by a 2–1 score at extra time.

During the 1982 tournament, Algeria managed a surprise defeat of West Germany in their first ever World Cup game and thus became the first African team to defeat European opposition at the World Cup, but were eliminated after the so-called "Shame of Gijón".^[9][10]

Due to Algeria's historic ties with France, there have been a number of Algerian players playing professionally in the French leagues, while the France national team has included players of Algerian heritage, most notably Zinedine Zidane, Karim Benzema and Samir Nasri.^[11]

Future for the Algerians Program