2009 Algeria v Egypt football matches

The countries are both in North Africa, separated by Libya and Tunisia, and football matches between them are fiercely contested local derbies. An Algerian player attacked an Egyptian fan. Algeria's Lakhdar Belloumi was convicted in absentia for a glass attack which blinded Egypt's team doctor in one eye. he notes Gamal Abdel Nasser supported Algeria's independence war against France, and suggests memory has faded in Algeria of Anwar El Sadat's unpopular Camp David Accords with Israel. At the 1978 All-Africa Games, Algerian police attacked Egyptian players and fans during their match against Libya. There were brawls at a qualifier for the 1984 Olympics. ==Blida match==

Algeria's home match against Egypt in the 2010 qualifiers took place in June 2009 without any incident being reported. Rather, to cool down animosity between the two countries, the Egyptian team was received with flowers at the airport. Diplomatic agreement, with personal intervention from Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, included lifting the Interpol warrant on Belloumi and compensating the Egyptian team doctor. Algeria coach Rabah Saadane wept at a press conference, expressing fear for his family's safety in the event of defeat. 5,000 security personnel turned Blida into a "virtual military base". Minors were barred from the stadium unless they had a ticket. ==Cairo match==

The lead-up to the crucial match was hyped. In October, insults were traded on internet sites, and Egyptian hackers made a denial-of-service attack on the website of Algerian newspaper Ech-Chorouk El-Youmi; an Algerian hacker retaliated by crashing the websites of the President of Egypt and Egyptian newspaper Al Ahram. Both countries' governments appealed for calm. Media in both countries alluded to the 1989 match. Editorialist Mohamed El Dahshan reported, "In the two days preceding the game, Egyptians celebrated as if they had already won." Ahmed Shobair stated that rumours started on the internet were being propagated by the mainstream media. Egyptian media alleged that the attack had been staged by the Algerians to have the match moved to a neutral venue. Egypt's leading state-owned daily Al-Ahram charged on Friday that it was the Algerian players, not stonethrowers, who had caused the damage to the bus. "The bus carrying the team from the airport to the hotel was at the centre of a strange incident in which some of the players started to smash the vehicle's windows claiming that they were the target of stonethrowing", the paper reported. The independent daily Al-Shuruq went further, saying the whole episode was a "complete fabrication." Citing a "senior security source", the paper said the windows of the bus were smashed "from the inside not the outside as claimed by Algerian team members." It accused the players of a "complete fabrication intended to serve as an excuse in the event that they lose" Saturday's key decider for next year's World Cup finals in South Africa. The independent Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper acknowledged that some "kids" had thrown stones but charged that the Algerian players had then put on a "display of histrionics pretending to be scared and injured, and smashing up the bus's windows and seats." The state-owned Al Gomhuria said the players had even assaulted the bus driver. and cellphone footage shot by Rafik Saïfi. FIFA observer Walter Gagg said, "We saw that three players had been injured — Khaled Lemmouchia on the head, Rafik Halliche above the eye and Rafik Saïfi on the arm." The initial reporting following the incident likely led to further poisoning the build-up to Saturday's game. The pre-match atmosphere in Egypt had already surged to feverish heights amid an unprecedented level of tension between the North African rivals. Khairi Morsi, the Egyptian driver who drove the Algerian delegation's bus, said the Algerian team had assaulted him. He indicated to Modern Sport TV that "they also shattered the windows from inside when they saw some Egyptian people around the bus." Ech-Chorouk reported that six Algerian fans were killed in the chaos that followed the match. This was denied by Algeria's ambassador in Cairo, Abdel Qader Hadjar, who said only eleven people had been injured. Egypt's Health Ministry reported 20 Algerians and 12 Egyptians injured. There were attacks on Egyptian interests in Algeria after the match. Allegedly related was the Algerian government's demand from Orascom for US$596m in back taxes. An Egyptian plane sent to Algeria to "rescue" citizens was refused permission to land. As a result of these events, on 18 May 2010, the FIFA Disciplinary Committee sanctioned and fined the Egyptian Football Association for not adopting the necessary measures to prevent the assault on the bus of the Algerian delegation on the way from the airport to the hotel on 12 November 2009. The report would also admonish the Egyptian Football Association for failures in maintaining security and order in the Cairo International Stadium for the game between Egypt and Algeria held on 14 November 2009. This would result in a two-game ban for the Egyptian national football team whereby the first two home matches of the preliminary competition for the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil would be played at a location at least 100 kilometres away from Cairo. • Algeria, Egypt and Zambia qualified for the 2010 African Cup of Nations. ==Omdurman match==

The teams finished level on 13 points and level on all tiebreakers: goal difference in all group matches (+5); goals scored in all group matches (9); points in all Algeria–Egypt matches (3); and goal difference in all Algeria–Egypt matches (0). (The away goals rule was not used as a group-stage tiebreaker). The teams met in a one-game play-off to decide the qualifier. To determine the match venue, each team selected a country other than their own (Algeria selected Tunisia and Egypt selected Sudan). After Sudan was drawn in a lottery on 11 November, the Al Merreikh Stadium in Omdurman was selected by FIFA as the venue for the play-off. The decision to play a tie-breaking playoff game to determine who qualifies to the 2010 FIFA World Cup was controversial because despite the fact that Algeria and Egypt were level on all tiebreakers listed above, Egypt would have qualified based on the away goals rule, which was used to determine the winner of a tie in the case of a tiebreaker in both previous and subsequent qualifiers. Reuters reported that 15,000 police were mobilised for the match. The following day, Sudan President Omar al-Bashir hosted a function in the Presidential Palace in Khartoum, in which Algerian Football Federation head Mohamed Raouraoua snubbed his Egyptian counterpart Samir Zaher. Each team's fans were allocated 9,000 tickets, many Algerian and Egyptian fans purchased tickets allocated to the home Sudanese. Locals estimated the actual attendance at up to 50,000. Details Aftermath Egyptian media ran many stories about attacks that allegedly happened in Sudan. Al-Ahram, a state-owned Egyptian newspaper, reported that buses designated for Egyptian fans to be taken to the airport had been destroyed, forcing them to walk there under escort of the Sudanese army. Egypt's foreign ministry spoke of "Egypt's extreme displeasure with the assaults on Egyptian citizens who went to Khartoum to support the Egyptian team". Algerian diplomats said later that a widely broadcast video showing hundreds of Algerian fans brandishing knives had in fact been taken at an Algerian club match several years earlier. The New York Times reported "no widespread rioting". After the loss of the match, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) filed a complaint with FIFA against the Algerian football delegation. The EFA indicated that "Egyptian fans, officials and players put their lives at risk before and after the match under threat from weapons, knives, swords and flares". The statement also threatened with the Egyptian team's withdrawal for two years from all international competitions as a sign of protest. On 18 May 2010, FIFA announced that conditions for opening disciplinary proceedings have not been met and closed the complaint. Egypt's ambassador to the UK claimed thousands of fans had to flee to the airport for safety. Sudan summoned the Egyptian ambassador to protest at the media coverage of the Sudanese hosting of the match. The Interior Ministry said 11 police and 24 protesters were injured, and 20 people arrested. ==Subsequent events==

On Friday, Alaa Mubarak telephoned a talk show, saying "We are Egyptian and we hold our head high, and whoever insults us should be smacked on his head." Hosni Mubarak said on national television that he would not condone the "humiliation" of Egyptians abroad. An article in al-Ahram suggested that the Egyptians attending the match were mainly wealthy people who could afford to travel, rather than "the really tough fans" who could have defended themselves against assaults. The two sides met again in Angola in January, for the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations semi-finals. Egypt cruised to a 4–0 victory, en route to an unprecedented 7th tournament win, in a hotly tempered match where Algeria had three players red carded. Match referee Coffi Codjia was indefinitely suspended by the Confederation of African Football for failing to send off Algerian goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi for headbutting the match official, only awarding the player a yellow card for the incident. Chaouchi was later one of the players to be dismissed, for a second bookable offence. He received a three match ban by CAF for the headbutt. A meeting of Egyptian sports organisations agreed to be "prudent" when hosting events at which Algerians were competing, and not to travel to competitions in Algeria. The Egyptian Handball Federation was due to host the African Championships in February 2010; after a request for postponement was denied by the African Handball Confederation, it withdrew as host, but said it would still field a team. On 23 November FIFA announced that its executive committee would hold an extraordinary general meeting on 2 December in Cape Town, where members were already due to meet to discuss the seedings for the World Cup, to discuss recent controversies. The Egypt–Algeria match was expected to figure, along with the dispute over France's handball goal against Ireland, and the investigation into a major match-fixing scam. FIFA's disciplinary committee was asked to launch an investigation; it was expected that the Algerian member of the committee would be recused. A report was expected by February 2010; Algeria's place at the World Cup finals was not in jeopardy. On 20 November 2009, the Egyptian Football Association withdrew its membership from the Union of North African Football (UNAF), which also includes Algeria as a member. A few days later, on 25 November, Egyptian intellectuals signed a statement condemning the media hype and political manipulation of the dispute. Bouthaina Shaaban, an advisor to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, condemned the dispute as distracting Arabs from the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. There were reports that Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and Israel had each offered to mediate in the dispute. A joint venture oil company announced on 6 December was seen as heralding a recovery in relations between the two countries. It was reported that Egypt would not return its ambassador to Algiers unless compensation was paid for damage to Egyptian property in Algeria. al-Ahram reported on 10 December that inflammatory media reports in both countries had been ended by order of the respective Presidents, following mediation by Gaddafi and al-Bashir. Efforts by the UAE FA to broker an accord between the Egyptian and Algerian FAs were endorsed by Sepp Blatter. ==Analyses==

Algeria claimed there was an orchestrated media campaign to damage its reputation and to create a fictitious enemy to Egypt, to rally the masses behind Gamal Mubarak and give him some legitimacy in his bid to inherit the presidency from his father. Foreign analysts suggested both governments encouraged protests about football to channel public discontent away from political issues. Jack Shenker suggests the anger was fomented primarily by the sensationalist media, with belated political endorsement. Others saw the violence as an expression of a general public malaise. On 10 December, The New York Times made similar observations. An Arab League spokesperson proposed that, in the future, celebrities and political leaders should not attend sensitive matches, lest they feed into public passions. Official planes had carried 200 Algerian MPs to the Cairo match, and 133 Egyptian celebrities to the Khartoum match. == See also ==