Before a decisive match this Thursday against Côte d'Ivoire, the Algerian Federation had to deny having used an exorcist to chase away the bad luck that would strike the Fennecs since the start of the CAN.
Former coaches of several African countries, Alain Giresse and Robert Nouzaret evoke memories where sport and the supernatural were able to mingle.
Far from the sometimes condescending shortcuts, this type of story is however also found in French football.
While Algeria must at all costs beat Côte d'Ivoire this Thursday to see the round of 16 of the CAN in Cameroon, a curious story has interfered with the preparation of the reigning African champions. The Algerian Federation (FAF) had to draw a denial on Tuesday in the face of rumors that it had called on an exorcist to overcome "bad luck". The very one who would have prevented the Fennecs from scoring against Sierra Leone (0-0) then Equatorial Guinea (0-1), despite many chances against intrinsically inferior opponents.
“Some in the Algerian-Algerian community found it a bit ridiculous, confides a journalist who closely follows the selection coached by Djamel Belmadi.
To make a press release for that, was it really necessary?
But the FAF preferred to react immediately.
Because the more the rumor swells, the more some people will believe it.
»
In the wake of the defeat against the Equatorial Guineans, the first after 35 games without defeat, the Algerian "raki" (sorcerer) Ibn Chanfara had indeed proposed to be dispatched urgently to Cameroon to fight against what he qualifies of "evil eye", before receiving, therefore, an end of inadmissibility from the Federation.
Seen from Europe, this event revived the fantasy of African football handed over to occult forces, with its procession of magical practices, between the use of charms and the sacrifice of chickens.
Especially since, on the Algerian side, former coach Rabah Saadane recently recalled the memory of a very tense meeting in Egypt, during the 2010 World Cup qualifiers.
Former national coach Rabah Saâdane continues his "series" of sensational revelations about the Greens.https://t.co/chLb9cAc3W
— TSA Algeria (@TSAlgerie) January 14, 2022
Faced with a cascade of injuries, the ex-coach had been imposed the "raki" Belahmar by the then president of the FAF, according to comments reported by the Algerian media TSA.
“His arrival put us in a state of tension.
I expelled him from the team camp and asked him not to approach the players, ”explains Saâdane today.
If Algeria had lost this match, it was she who ended up qualifying for the South African World Cup, at the expense of the Pharaohs.
A history of jersey colors during a Gabon-Togo
“This kind of practice exists, but more in sub-Saharan Africa, estimates Alain Giresse, in turn coach of Gabon, Mali (twice), Senegal and Tunisia, between 2006 and 2019. In the Maghreb, I had no Never heard about that.
The subject was not even touched upon when I was officiating in Tunisia.
»
In thirteen years of experience, the former member of the magic square of the Blues in the 1980s indicates that he has only been directly concerned once.
“When I was coaching Gabon, before a match against Togo, a marabout said that we had to change the colors of the team because the winning colors were not the ones we were wearing. We were playing in yellow and, according to him, we had to play in green. The staff and the players disagreed. We kept our colors. The funny thing is that the opposing team wore a green jersey, and we won 3-0. Then it never happened to me again. It has never changed or disrupted a team's preparation. Maybe it was done outside, before or after, but not internally. »
Another great regular of African selections (Côte d'Ivoire twice, Guinea and DRC), Robert Nouzaret also evokes only one memory: "Before I don't know which match, at the request of the people of the Ivorian federation , I went to throw water in a river not far from my home, explains the man who also briefly coached the Mouloudia of Algiers in 2005. I did it so as not to disappoint them.
Wizards are smart, they want to make money.
And since some people believe in it, it gives extra confidence.
»
Burkinabé marabouts in Blida
Before the CAN, other stories were relayed by African media, such as that of a Cameroonian "charlatan" who allegedly threatened "severe punishment" going "until the death" of three stars, the Algerian Riyad Mahrez, the Egyptian Mohamed Salah and the Senegalese Sadio Mané, if they prevented the Indomitable Lions from winning "their" tournament.
In another genre, last November, Algerian leaders accused Burkina Faso of having come to Blida with two marabouts who would have resorted to different magical practices before a decisive match for accession to the 2022 World Cup play-offs, finally won. by the Fennecs after a draw (2-2).
Women's underwear in Montpellier, sacrificed chicken in Bordeaux
If they do exist, these stories of witchcraft only marginally concern African football. And they are not limited to this continent. Thus, Nouzaret and Giresse have as many anecdotes of the same type to tell about France. “In Montpellier, there is a guy who had managed to make Loulou Nicollin believe that the wives of managers and players had to wear underwear of a certain color to win, laughs the first, intimately linked to the Hérault club. We laughed. But they had done it! »
The prize for the most beautiful story, however, goes to the former friend of Platini in Blue.
“It was in 1984 in Bordeaux, and we couldn't win anymore.
I don't know who took the initiative, but a chicken was slaughtered on the pitch and we players came back onto the pitch against Saint-Etienne with a handful of salt in our hands, which we had to get rid of in seven times.
" Results ?
“We won 7-0.
“A few weeks after this significant March 31, the Girondins ended the season champions of France, on equal points with Monaco but with the benefit of a better goal difference…
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