FOOTBALL

Khalef, Madjer, Fergani, the winning trio

Algerian football has revealed a good number of players and coaches who left their imprint on their era. Pioneers who formed the first national squad during the liberation war, such as Rachid Mekhloufi, Said Amara, Abdelhamid Kermali and many others paved the way for the following generations.

The first of those generations of "wonder boys" was in the late 1960s, early 1970s represented by Hassane Lalmas, Mokhtar Kalem, Djilali Selmi, just to name a few.

If the generation of the late 1970s and early 1980s brought worldwide fame to Algerian football, it is fair to say that the Madjer, Belloumi, Assad and the likes made a great impact on the sport at the time when professionalism had become the way forward.

Mahieddine Khalef - the national coach is credited with building up a real national squad that marked those glorious years.

According to many observers, Mahieddine Khalef was the only coach who had real influence and the personality needed to direct the national team.

Khalef was born in Morocco and started his career as a footballer with the club of Kenitra. In 1967, he returned and played for JS Kabylie, with which he acceded to the elite league and subsequently winning the 1972-1973 edition of the Algerian championship.

He retired as a footballer the same year but would not stay away from the pitches or JS Kabylie. He was actually appointed assistant to the team's Romanian coach, Popescu, where he contributed to its second consecutive title.

He remained assistant coach for three years before being appointed at the age of 33 as head coach of the team that would dominate Algerian football for an entire decade.

When the Fennecs' head coach Rachid Mekhloufi resigned in 1979, a few weeks to the Mediterranean Games of Split (Yugoslavia), Khalef was called to take charge of the squad at the age of 36. The team distinguished itself during the Games by getting to the semi-finals.

It did equally well at the Olympic Games of Moscow (1980), where the Fennecs reached the quarterfinals. These results were attributed to Khalef, who led the Algerian squad for its first participation in a World Cup.

The team's participation in the CAN 1980 held in Nigeria confirmed the victory trend, as the Fennecs played the final and lost the hosts 0-3. Khalef gathered experience from these encounters for his World Cup debut in 1982 in Spain where Algeria won Germany 2-1.

Even though the Fennecs failed to cross the first round due to an alleged "deal" between Germans and Austrians, the first

participation of the Algerian national team in a World Cup finals was honourable.

On return Khalef resigned under the pressure from the media which attacked him for sidelining popular players - Jkouici and Bencheikh - during the competition. He went back to JS Kabylie, where he won other titles before moving on to Morocco.

Called on several occasions to take control of the national team again, Khalef shunned the offer because Algerian officials would not meet his conditions.

Algerian football fans will always remember Rabah Madjer for being the player who played most matches in the history of Algerian football.

Born on 22 December 1958 in a family of 11 children, "Tetafou" as he was nicknamed by his friends, began playing football in 1973 in the small team - ONALAIT - in the regional football division. He spent one year there before signing with NAH-Dey, the Division 1 Club in his neighbourhood.

Madjer won the Algerian Challenge Cup in 1975 and 1976 but it was during a friendly tourney in Nice (France), where he was named best player when his career changed. His coach spotted his offensive capacities.

He was the main attacker for the NAH Dey senior team where most good players at the time played. But they lost the Algerian Cup final in 1977 before Madjer took his revenge two years later.

Madjer was later called to the national U-21 squad where he joined Assad, Belloumi and other talented players. It was during the All-Africa Games of 1978 in Algiers that fortune smiled on him. He would not leave the national team where he became one of the corner stone of the Fennecs' saga. Madjer came into limelight during the

preliminaries of the World Cup in Spain, for scoring the first goal for Algeria.

Right after the end of the World Cup, he was contacted by a French Second Division team, Racing Club of Paris, where he spent a short time before signing for FC Porto (Portugal). This is where he became a star, mainly during the Champions League. FC Porto won the title for the first time thanks to Madjer's famous back heel

against Bayern of Munich in the 1987 final. He also contributed to two other titles for the team in 1986 and 1987.

In 1987, he was named best African footballer of the year, after being ranked second for this prestigious distinction. After

his retirement, he embarked on a coaching career to take charge of FC Porto's training centre. He was later called to lead the Algerian squad on two occasions, while several clubs in Qatar Also sought his services.

The other big legend is Ali Fergani - one the most respected coaches of the national squad.

Born on 21 September 1952 in northern France, Ali Fergani returned to Algeria in 1965 where he created the Sporting International Club of Armaf (SICA) in Algiers. He occupied several positions within this club, including that of goalkeeper.

He then joined the top club of Hussein-Dey, NAHD in the U-17 category. As a brilliant student, he managed to put things in perspective and continued his studies until his diploma as Architecture.

In the 1969-1970 season, Fergani integrated the NAHD senior team and snatched the Algerian Challenge Cup. He entered the national squad in 1973 during a match versus Brazil in Algiers before leaving the national team for a few years to focus on his studies.

In 1978, Fergani re-integrated the national squad then coached by Mahieddine Khalef and was captain during the Mediterranean Games of Split, the CAN editions in Casablanca and Lagos, and the World Cup hosted by Spain..

With NAHD, Ali Fergani won two Challenge Cups (one in U-21 and the other one in the senior team). With JS Kabylie, he won the championships successively from 1980 to 1986 and snatched the Algerian football cup in 1986, as well as the African Champions Cup in 1981 and the African Super Cup the following year.

Elected third African best player of the year in 1981, Ali Fergani also embarked on a career as football coach and worked for JS

Kabylie as well as for the national squad. He then flew to Tunisia where he led several Division One clubs.