1957–1958: ALN In 1956, in
Tunis, Tunisia, the first team representing Algeria was formed, the Armée de Libération Nationale (ALN) team led by Ahmed Benelfoul and
Habib Draoua. The team was approved by the FLN in May 1957 and was managed by Salah Saidou, with Abdelkader Zerrar the captain. The first game was played on 1 June 1957 against
Tunisia in the
Stade Chedly Zouiten. In April 1958, the team was dissolved and was replaced by the FLN team.
1958–1962: FLN The FLN football team was a team made up mainly of professional players in France, who then joined the Algerian independence movement of the
National Liberation Front (FLN), and assisted in organizing football matches against national football teams. The FLN linked African football to anti-colonial resistance using the idea of
Pan-Africanism as a legitimizing tool and symbol of national identity. The French authorities easily obtained the non-recognition of the team by FIFA.
1962–1980 Football in Algeria was established in the 1890s by European settlers bringing the sport to the country. The Algerian football team was established in 1962 after gaining independence from France, as the successor of the
FLN football team. Under French rule, Algeria was not allowed to have a national team, the FLN football team was sort of a rebellion against the French colonization. All of their games were considered friendlies and were unrecognized by
FIFA. During a press conference in Tunis, the Algerian football team refused to make any political statements, referring to football as a sport rather than a political influence. After the Algerian national football team was officially recognized by FIFA in 1963, the team qualified to the
1968 Africa Cup of Nations and failed to qualify for the next five editions of the AFCON until 1980.
1980s 1982 FIFA World Cup |alt= Algeria caused one of the greatest World Cup upsets on the first day of the tournament with a 2–1 victory over
defending European champions West
Germany. In the final match in the group between West Germany and
Austria, with Algeria and
Chile having already played their final group game the day before, the European teams knew that a West German win by one or two goals would qualify them both, while a larger West German victory would qualify Algeria over Austria, and a draw or an Austrian win would eliminate the West Germans. After 10 minutes of all-out attack, West Germany scored through a goal by
Horst Hrubesch, with the two teams kicking the ball around aimlessly after. Chants of "Fuera, fuera" ("Out, out") were screamed by the Spanish crowd, while angry Algerian supporters waved banknotes at the players. This performance was widely deplored, even by the West German and Austrian fans. Algeria protested to FIFA, who ruled that the result be allowed to stand; FIFA introduced a revised qualification system at subsequent World Cups in which the final two games in each group were played simultaneously.
1986 FIFA World Cup In 1984, Algeria finished in third place in the
AFCON in Ivory Coast. During the
1986 AFCON, Algeria recorded two defeats and one draw, being eliminated in the first round. In Mexico, at the
1986 World Cup, the Algerians were unable to pass the first round once again in a group that included
Northern Ireland (1–1 draw),
Brazil (1–0 loss), and
Spain (3–0 loss). Only one Algerian scored during this competition,
Djamel Zidane. Algeria then failed to qualify for another World Cup until
2010.
1990–2008 Algeria hosted the
1990 AFCON, being drawn into Group A, with
Nigeria (who they defeated 5–1),
Ivory Coast (a 3–0 win), and
Egypt (with Algeria winning 2–0), before reaching a final that had a crowd of 105,302 fans at
Chérif Oudjani. In a rematch against Nigeria, Algeria won the AFCON for the first time. After winning the AFCON, Algeria barely missed out in qualifying to the
1990 World Cup, and the country was on the brink of a civil war. Although Algeria qualified to the
1992 African Cup of Nations, the title holders were eliminated in the first round of the competition. In the
1994 African Cup of Nations Algeria was disqualified from the tournament after fielding an ineligible player. Algeria returned to the
1996 African Cup of Nations, but were eliminated by hosts
South Africa in the quarter-finals.
Two years later, Algeria finished last in its group with three defeats and was eliminated in the group stage. In
2000, the Fennecs passed the first round only to lose to 2–1 to eventual champions
Cameroon in the quarter-finals. They then were eliminated in the first round in
2002, before losing to hosts Tunisia in the
2004 final. They then failed to qualify for either the AFCON or World Cup in 2006, and missed the
2008 Africa Cup of Nations.
2008–2014 2010 AFCON and 2010 World Cup On 11 October 2008, Algeria returned to the top 20 in the
FIFA World Rankings by finishing first in their group ahead of
Senegal,
Gambia, and
Liberia for the second round in the combined
2010 World Cup and 2010 African Cup of Nations qualification rounds. In the third and final round of the
qualifiers, Algeria was joined by
Zambia,
Rwanda, and
Egypt in group C. A playoff game was played in Sudan in November 2009 with the winner qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa. Algeria won 1–0 after a stunning goal from
Anthar Yahia and qualified for the finals for the third time in their history. After qualifying for the World Cup in South Africa, Algeria finished fourth in the
2010 African Cup of Nations. Algeria was drawn in Group C with
England, the
United States, and
Slovenia. The north African side came in the tournament in poor form, losing nearly all their World Cup preparation games in friendlies. In their first game they lost to Slovenia 0–1, with Slovenia's captain
Robert Koren scoring in the 79th minute after
Abdelkader Ghezzal was sent off for his
second yellow card. In their second group game, Algeria drew with
England leading to massive celebrations throughout the world's Algerian communities. The Fennecs lost their final group game to the United States 1–0 thanks to a
Landon Donovan winner in second-half injury time. Algeria exited the championship as one of two teams, along with
Honduras, to fail to score a goal.
2010–13 After the World Cup, Algeria suffered a 2–1 home loss to Guinea in a friendly and a 1–1 draw at home to Tanzania, leading to veteran manager
Rabah Saâdane resigning and being replaced by
Abdelhak Benchikha. The newly appointed coach tried to bring in new faces to the squad to bolster their offense but poor results continued for Benchikha's side who started off with a 2–0 away loss to Central African Republic. There was a little bit of hope restored for the Algerians after they beat Morocco 1–0 at home after a goal from
Hassan Yebda but After they lost 4–0 to
Morocco in the return leg, their manager resigned. Algeria failed to qualify for the
2012 Africa Cup of Nations and the nightmare continued. After new coach
Vahid Halilhodžić was appointed, Algeria began their
2014 World Cup qualifying campaign. The Bosnian coach's debut resulted in a 1–1 away draw against
Tanzania, they then beat
Central African Republic 2–0 with goals coming from
Hassan Yebda and
Foued Kadir. Eventually, the team qualified for the World Cup after being eliminated from the 2013 AFCON after two matches by defeating
Burkina Faso on an aggregate play-off.
2014 World Cup Algeria were drawn in Group H with
Belgium,
Russia, and
South Korea. In their opening game against Belgium,
Sofiane Feghouli scored Algeria's first World Cup goal in 28 years giving his team a 1–0 lead. Eventually, Belgium caught up and scored two goals to give themselves a 2–1 victory. In their second game against South Korea, Algeria won 4–2, becoming the first team to score four goals in a single match in the World Cup. On 26 June, Algeria played Russia for second place in Group H. Russia scored the opening goal but
Islam Slimani equalized to carry Algeria to the second round of the World Cup for the first time, where they were eliminated in extra time by
Germany.
2015–2018: Decline After coach Vahid decided to opt out of a contract extension following the World Cup,
Lorient coach
Christian Gourcuff was appointed by FAF president Mohamed Raouraoua.
2015 Africa Cup of Nations |alt= After topping their
qualification group which consisted of Mali, Malawi, and Ethiopia, Algeria were drawn in a group including South Africa, Ghana, and Senegal. Playing Ghana in the last group stage match, goals from Riyad Mahrez and youngster Nabil Bentaleb sent the Foxes to the next round. The Desert Foxes finished second in their group behind Ghana despite their goal difference due to their head-to-head record. Ivory Coast awaited them, where
Wilfried Bony would score twice for an eventual 2–1 win for the Elephants, eliminating the Desert Foxes from the competition.
2016–2018 Manager Christian Gourcuff was widely criticized after the African Cup exit and would eventually resign from his position. Milovan Rajevac was then appointed manager in June 2016, but resigned four months later after Algeria's first World Cup qualifying game ended in a home draw against Cameroon. The Algerian Football Federation then hired Georges Leekens; despite this, Algeria lost to Nigeria 3–1 during matchday 2 of the World Cup qualifiers in November 2016. Leekens then coached Algeria during the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations, where Algeria drew against Zimbabwe and Senegal and lost against Tunisia, resulting in a group stage elimination. Algeria then failed to qualify for the
2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.
2019–present After a slew of underperforming coaches, the federation appointed former Algerian international
Djamel Belmadi on 2 August 2018. Belmadi was a young coach and had mainly previously coached in Qatar. However, due to his unsuccessful tenure with the
Qatar national team, when they were eliminated early in the
2015 AFC Asian Cup, skepticism arose about the manager. Algeria's performance in the
2019 AFCON qualification also suffered a setback, including a 0–1 away loss to
Benin. and two 1–1 draws to
Gambia, Algeria eventually topped
Group C as they won all three matches including a 1–0 victory over
2018 World Cup participant
Senegal. Algeria's solid performance continued with a 3–0 win over
Guinea in the round of sixteen, before they overcame
Ivory Coast in a hard-fought encounter which they won in a penalty shootout 4–3, after having drawn 1–1 after 120 minutes. The Algerians then went on to defeat
Nigeria 2–1 with a dying minute's free kick shot by
Riyad Mahrez. Facing Senegal once again in the final,
Baghdad Bounedjah scored the only goal of the game as Algeria won 1–0, earning them their first title since 1990. This made Algeria the second North African side after Egypt to win multiple AFCON trophies. Algeria competed in the
2021 FIFA Arab Cup held in Qatar. As the tournament did not occur during the international break, Belmadi was unable to coach and national team veteran and assistant coach Madjid Bougherra filled in. Algeria managed to stay undefeated through the group stages, winning 4–0 against
Sudan and 2–0 against
Lebanon. The last match for the top spot of Group D ended in a draw against Egypt, putting Egypt at the top of the group due to their disciplinary record. This brought them to the knockout stages where they started with a match against Morocco, with a 5–3 win for Algeria on penalties, moving them to the semi-finals against hosts, Qatar, where Algeria won after a match that lasted a record 19 minutes of stoppage time added to the first 90. The Arab Cup final against neighbours Tunisia ended regular time in a scoreless draw, with the match concluding with a goal in the fifth minute of second-half extra time and winning the team another trophy. The
2021 Africa Cup of Nations came off to a rough start. Their first match against
Sierra Leone ended in a scoreless draw. Their second match ended in their first loss since 2019 against
Equatorial Guinea, losing 0–1, ending their 35-game unbeaten streak, two games away from the record held by
Italy. The Algerian team suffered a defeat to Ivory Coast which led to their early exit at the group stages of the AFCON. Four years later, they would qualify for the
2026 FIFA World Cup after topping their group. ==Home stadium==