World champions against African champions. A match between France and Algeria has everything a dream poster for football fans. It is also a little more than that in view of the common and tumultuous history between the two countries. The Franceinfo channel reveals Tuesday, September 10 that this highly symbolic match could take place in October 2020.
According to a source close to the file questioned by Franceinfo, it is the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) who would have proposed the friendly match in return for a letter of congratulations from the French federation for its recent continental crown.
This match, if it were to take place, would take place between 5 and 13 October 2020. The Oran Olympic Stadium, which has 40 000 seats, was mentioned to host the event.
A hypothesis regularly evoked
In recent months, different actors have expressed their desire that this match be organized.
"The President [Christmas Le Graet, president of the FFF] is for," said defender and French captain Raphael Varane after France-Albania. "If we have to play this kind of match, it will be with pleasure."
"We can largely consider it: it would be a prestigious match, with a team twice world champion, that's what I look at, on the sporting level", explained on his side the Algerian coach, Djamel Belmadi, in press conference on September 3rd. "After, we know that this confrontation with the French team is full of history, so for all these elements, it seems to me very interesting to be able to play against them someday. before the end of Christmas Le Graët's mandate. "
However, Noël Le Graet was much more pessimistic at the microphone of France TV sport at the beginning of the month: "I want the match to be held there, because France has already hosted Algeria in 2001, but we did not never got the security clearance, it feels like it's the only country the French team can not play in. The project is not moving forward and I'm afraid the match will not be place before the end of my term, "he regretted.
Make forget 2001
The franceinfo channel recalls however that the file is far from being closed. As for each shift of the selection abroad, the French government must issue an opinion and in particular ensure that all security conditions are met.
The only confrontation between France and Algeria took place in 2001, at the Stade de France, with a large victory of the Blues (4-1). Beyond the score - anecdotal - this match is regularly singled out as one of the biggest fiascos of the French sport and a revealer of the French identity questioning: at the time, the meeting had been interrupted to a quarter of end time because of an invasion of the lawn by young fans. The Marseillaise had also been whistled.