Luca Zidane made his debut for the Algerian national team. Called by Vladimir Petkovic somewhat to everyone’s surprise, the goalkeeper son of “Zizou”, 27, first let Alexis Guendouz, the current number 1 of the Greens, play the match against Somalia (0-3) which validated qualification for the 2026 World Cup. He then took advantage of the game without a stake against Uganda (2-1), on October 14, in the den of the JS Kabylie, to make his debut on the international scene.
The player trained at Real Madrid only plays in the Spanish Segunda Division – and missed out in La Liga with Rayo Vallecano in 2021-2022 – but is having a good season with Granada. He multiplies the saves and also shines with his kicking game, like most goalkeepers trained across the Pyrenees. To see if he will be put in competition with Guendouz during the 2025 African Cup of Nations (December 21-January 18).
The 2026 World Cup is scheduled at the end of the current financial year and Luca Zidane, although he will not necessarily be Algeria’s starting goalkeeper, has a chance to challenge his country of birth. The French team will appear in the hat of 12 seeds in the event of qualification for the World Cup 26 and the Greens are one of the possible opponents in pot 3 of the draw on December 5 in Washington DC.
Luca Zidane and Kylian Mbappé against Spain
Luca Zidane, native of Marseille (or Aix-en-Provence, sources differ), played in five categories in the French youth team, from U16 to U20. He met a handful of French internationals and in particular the current Blues of Didier Deschamps. The goalkeeper played 17 matches in U17 and 18 with Dayot Upamecano, a native of 1998 like him, and also started at the same time as Ibrahima Konaté, Mattéo Guendouzi and Kylian Mbappé.
Zidane and Mbappé played together on November 14, 2016 with the EDF U19 against Spain. The prodigy from Bondy, who was a year younger than his teammates, played up front with, in support, Yann Karamoh, Jeff Reine-Adélaïde and Bilal Boutobba. Jonathan Ikoné and Odsonne Edouard came on. Luca Zidane then faced the country in which he grew up. This Seleccion U19 was led by Luis de la Fuente, with Marc Cucurella in the eleven and Brahim Diaz left on the bench…
