Algeria

Algeria 2010 Home

Around 2010 Puma decided that they had come up with an idea they liked. This template spread across most of Africa with even Equatorial Guinea and Sudan getting involved. It allowed for a unique twist for each nation (in this case the glorious Fennec Fox on the sleeve) but the asymmetry of material and the weird mesh that made up most of the gap is slightly annoying. Not too much to mention, the sleeve cuffs have a slight triangular bit to make them stand out but otherwise the shirt is largely a whiteboard.

Algeria wore this at the 2010 World Cup where their only point came in possibly the dullest England game I’ve ever had the misfortune of watching. Their goal was so badly troubled that a crow rested on the crossbar for a large portion of the match completely unbothered… Aside from that 0-0 they also lost to Slovenia and the USA 1-0 each time. Overall, not the most exciting of tournaments from the men in white and green.

The North Africans are one of the titans of the continent, with multiple semi-final places at the AFCON and 2 championships. They’ve been to 4 World Cups and are regularly competitive in qualifying. 2018 proved to be their big success – they escaped their group for the first time and took the eventual champions Germany to extra time! They’ve also taken part in various other tournaments, from the Mediterranean Games to the Pan Arab Games with mixed results. Due to the majority of their players playing outside the country (France is a popular choice), Algeria do not regularly qualify for the home-based player only CHAN. Their sole appearance in 2011 led to them finishing 4^th.

Their women’s side has been regularly active since 2003 with them qualifying for most of the Africa Women Cup of Nations, though their performance has thus far not emulated the men’s teams. 2 wins and a draw in 15 games has not helped them progress. Their women’s youth teams have rarely played and results have been even poorer. Their men’s youth sides perform better, being highly competitive in North Africa (4 runners-up in the UNAF U-20 tournament) and once won (and achieved 3 3rds) in the early days of the U-20 AFCON but have only qualified once since 1991. Their other youth teams follow a similar pattern, though the U17s reached the 2009 U-17 World Cup having lost the final of the CAF Championship. They failed to win a game.

Beach soccer and futsal teams do exist, though tend to do very poorly on the rare occasion they do play. The futsal team was at the 1989 World Cup (they lost all 3 games) but then next played competitively in 1998. Their beach soccer team has played 2 games at the 2011 Beach Soccer Championship (1 win and 1 loss) but otherwise haven’t played.

Currently Algeria haven’t started World Cup qualification but will be looking to improve on the failure to qualify for 2018.