Noël Le Graët has long hoped to be able to organize a friendly match between Algeria and France, almost twenty years after the last meeting between the two nations.
But the president of the French Federation (FFF) was pessimistic at the microphone of Europe 1 to see it being organized under his mandate.
INTERVIEW
When will we see a match between the France team and Algeria, in Algeria?
Probably not in the coming months, according to Noël Le Graët.
"I've been at the Federation for eight years, I've always wanted to go to Algiers. We never managed to find an agreement. The president of the Algerian Federation wanted it, but I'm not sure that the Algerian state really wanted it ", judged the president of the French Football Federation (FFF), in the program Face aux listeneurs d'Europe 1.
France and Algeria have faced each other only once, in October 2001 at the Stade de France.
The match was interrupted after the invasion of the field by Algerian supporters while the Blues of Zidane, world and European champions at the time (1998 and 2000), led 4-1.
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"I don't know if I will have time during my mandate"
For several months, Noël Le Graët has publicly displayed his desire to organize a friendly match in Algeria, which would constitute a strong symbol because of the common past between the two countries.
The president of the FFF, in office since 2011, is now pessimistic about the realization of his project before the end of his mandate next year.
"It is a dream for me to go and play in Algeria. I do not know if during my term of office I would have the time. But it is a proposal that I have made several times to the Algerian leaders" , continued Noël Le Graët, who seems in passing to open the door to an end of term next year.
The president of the FFF has not yet revealed his intention to stand for re-election or not.