RFI
Africa's finest: Algeria seek to build on mixed history
Algeria enter the first 48-team World Cup as Africa's third-highest ranked side. In the seventh instalment of a nine-part series on African teams at the 2026 World Cup, RFI looks at a country making its fifth appearance on football's biggest stage.
Issued on: 07/06/2026 - 15:22
2 min Reading time
Just as Algeria appear to establish consistency, they fall away. The North African side reached the World Cup for the first time in 1982 in Spain after the tournament expanded from 16 to 24 teams.
They qualified again for the 1986 tournament in Mexico but missed the next five editions before returning in 2010 and 2014.
Historic upset
After failing to qualify for the tournaments in Russia in 2018 and Qatar in 2022, the Fennecs are back after winning an African qualifying group featuring Uganda, Mozambique, Guinea, Botswana and Somalia.
Algeria, ranked 28th in the world by Fifa, made headlines during their first World Cup appearance in 1982.
They won their opening match against reigning European champions West Germany, becoming the first African or Arab team to defeat a European side at a World Cup.
Algeria then lost to Austria before beating Chile to stay in contention for a place in the second round.
Because Algeria's match against Chile took place before the final game between Austria and West Germany, both teams knew that a West German win by one or two goals would send them through.
A bigger German victory would have taken Algeria through instead of Austria. A draw or Austrian win would have eliminated West Germany.
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'Disgrace of Gijon'
After West Germany scored in the 10th minute, the two teams largely played out the rest of the match without attacking in what became known as the "Disgrace of Gijon".
Although Algeria protested to Fifa, the result stood. Fifa later introduced a rule for the 1986 World Cup requiring the final group matches to be played at the same time.
Algeria were eliminated in the group stage in 1986 and lost to Germany in the last 16 at the 2014 World Cup.
Head coach Vladimir Petkovic, who replaced Africa Cup-winning coach Djamel Belmadi in 2024, appointed veteran striker Riyad Mahrez as captain.
Confirming that the tournament in the United States, Mexico and Canada will be his last World Cup, the 35-year-old told journalists: "Will I play in another World Cup after 2026? I'm not Ronaldo, brother ... 2026 will be my last one."
Algeria begin their Group J campaign against defending champions Argentina in Kansas City on 16 June.
Six days later, they face World Cup debutants Jordan in San Francisco.
On 27 June, Algeria complete the group stage against Austria in Kansas City at the same time as Argentina play Jordan in Dallas.
