The destinies of the two men will have been closely linked in the national team.
For six years, Djamel Belmadi was the coach of Algeria, experiencing varying fortunes. Success first of all, with a victory at the African Cup of Nations in 2019. Then bitter failures, with two eliminations during the group stages of this same competition (2021 and 2024) and a non-qualification for the 2022 World Cup.
His best player during this period, Riyad Mahrez, wanted to pay tribute to him. “Thank you for everything Djamel. Despite this failure at the last CAN, we will never forget that in Egypt, the second star that you brought back to the country and the 35 matches without defeat. I will also not forget all the hard work you have done during these six years and especially the love you have for our flag: everything you have done, undertaken, was only intended to make us proud the people. Thanks bro “wrote the former Manchester City player on his X account (formerly Twitter).
A successor named Petkovic
During the last CAN, Riyad Mahrez was strongly criticized because of his tasteless performances. “Riyad is a leader, he has proven himself recently, no one is playing for status at home, I know we will still need him in this tournament”his coach defended him, before putting him on the substitutes’ bench during the last match, against Mauritania.
Belmadi’s successor at the Fennecs is named Vladimir Petkovic. This former Croatian footballer from Bosnia-Herzegovina, naturalized Swiss, will have his first experience in Africa. In the past, the native of Sarajevo mainly distinguished himself at the head of Switzerland, of which he was the coach, replacing Ottmar Hitzfeld after the 2014 World Cup.
