Stanislas Frenkiel, sports historian, tells in a well-documented book a century of history between France and Algeria through the practice of round ball. From the FLN team to binationals ...

The passionate story between France and Algeria through football

Undated photo of Algerian player Rachid Mekhloufi (D).

AFP - STF

Text by: Farid Achache Follow

6 mins

Stanislas Frenkiel, sports historian, tells in a well-documented book a century of history between France and Algeria through the practice of round ball.

From the FLN team to the binational heroes in Brazil in 2014, Algerian football has emancipated itself and continued to make the link between the two shores of the Mediterranean.

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There are countries where going to the football stadium is anything but trivial.

There are countries where one attends the matches of the national team as one visits an old mother, with a tenderness mixed with devotion.

There are countries where political battles do not remain at the doorstep of the stadiums.

The history of football in Algeria is an epic that the academic Stanislas Frenkiel has deciphered wonderfully in a documented and fascinating work.

Thanks to exceptional archives and interviews, he analyzes the links between France and Algeria through football.

It tells about injuries, but also moments of joy through the most popular and popular sport on the planet.

Rachid Mekhloufi, AS Saint-Étienne and the FLN

Stanislas Frenkiel tells, among other things, the story of the footballers of the revolution, through the FLN team between 1958 and 1962. At the time, there were 29 active footballers in France who clandestinely joined Tunisia to promote their notoriety in the service of their country. One of the most famous examples of the politicization of sport. While he had four selections for the French team between 1956 and 1957, Rachid Mekhloufi of AS Saint-Étienne went underground, notably with Mokhtar Arribi (ex-Lens) and Abdelhamid Kermali (Olympique Lyonnais). With the FLN team, Rachid Mekhloufi plays gala matches around the world in order to highlight the Algerian cause.

At the top of his game, Mustapha Zitouni, center-back of the France team, must give up the 1958 World Cup in Sweden.

Between the Blues and the FLN, he chose his camp.

At independence in 1962, the team was dissolved.

Forty-five years later, Mustapha Zitouni will admit having made his choice for fear of reprisals.

Rachid Mekhloufi returns to Saint-Étienne, passes through Bastia, before taking charge of the Algerian national team.

In 2012, the man who played more than 300 matches with Saint-Étienne was one of the characters in Eric Cantona's documentary film:

the football rebels.

Immigrant Football.

1962, independence and affiliation to Fifa

In 1962, the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) applied for membership of the International Football Federation (Fifa). It benefits from the support of France. The links with the former colonial power are not severed. It must be said that since the birth of professionalism, more than 500 Algerian footballers have played in the French Championship.

Djamel Belmadi

, born in 1976 in Champigny-sur-Marne in the Paris suburbs, child of the first generation of immigrants, fan of Maradona. He made the heyday of Olympique de Marseille in the 2000s, and has 20 caps for the Fennecs. He gave the second title of African Champion to the Greens in 2019 in Egypt after that acquired in 1990 at home. In the workforce, a certain Adlène Guedioura, son of Nacer Guedioura, former football player of USM Algiers, who played in La Roche-sur-Yon in France. Nacer Guedioura took part in the historic match against South Yemen on August 17, 1973, on the occasion of the Palestine Cup in Benghazi in Libya, where Algeria won on the river score of 15 to 1, which is the biggest victory in its history.

Senegal striker Sadio Mané (l) is tackled by Algerian midfielder Adlene Guedioura in the CAN-2019 final, July 19, 2019 in Cairo AFP

Binationals become legitimate

Adlène Guedioura, born in La Roche-sur-Yon, is one of those binationals who were crowned in 2019. If he was excluded from the trip to Brazil at the 2014 World Cup, others like

Riyad Mahrez

, Yacine Brahimi or Sofiane Feghouli thrilled a whole people in Brazil in a historic round of 16 against Germany in the

Porto Alegre

stadium

Elected in 1997 at the head of the Algerian Football Federation, Mohamed Diabi turned to the French Championship to increase the number of the Greens.

His successors will continue prospecting in France and in Europe.

“

In 2010, I took advantage of the FIFA regulations which allow young French internationals to return to their country of origin. So I made the decision to play with Algeria and today I am very proud of it

", Carl Medjani told RFI in 2012. Adding:"

My whole family lives in the district of El Harrach (Algiers, editor's note) and I support USM El Harrach. I am particularly interested in them because it is the family club, in a way, that of my roots

”. In 2014,

Carl Medjani

will experience the Brazilian epic.

It should be remembered that in 1990, when the Greens were crowned at the CAN, only Cherif Oudjani, famous for having scored the winning goal against Nigeria, was an exception in the Algerian team.

He was the only player to be born in France, in Lens, and not in Algeria.

Then 24 years old, the Sochaux striker played at the forefront alongside the famous Rabah Madjer, one of the few Algerians who then played abroad (FC Porto).

As the former captain and coach of the Algerian team Ali Fergani writes in the afterword, in his book, Stanislas Frenkiel “

honors

” and “

highlights the very great footballing qualities of all generations of Algerians since over a century

”.

“

Football for immigrants between France and Algeria, shared history
”, by Stanislas Frenkiel, Artois Presses Université, € 24

The passionate story between France and Algeria through football

The passionate story between France and Algeria through football

Rachid Mekhloufi, AS Saint-Étienne and the FLN

1962, independence and affiliation to Fifa

Binationals become legitimate

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