- Source: Rachid Mekhloufi
Rachid Mekhloufi (Arabic: رشيد مخلوفي; 12 August 1936 – 8 November 2024) was an Algerian footballer who played as a striker. He later became a manager and coached the Algeria national football team.
International career
In the middle of the Algerian War, on 13 April 1958, ten of the most well-known France-based Algerian professional footballers fled from France to go and play for the new FLN football team. This team was created from the National Liberation Front (Algeria). One of these 10 players was Rachid Mekhloufi. Rachid, "abandoned the French team preparing for the World Cup Finals in Sweden and instantly became an Algerian national symbol." By the summer, more and more France-based Algerians came to join the original ten who fled. Rachid and his teammates wanted to show the French people the serious war that was going on in Algeria. Many in France did not realize the extent of the war raging in Algeria, but when ten high-profile players left, the French citizens had to wonder and figure out the exact reason, especially when a few of the 10 footballers were preparing for the World Cup Finals. At the same time, both Rachid and his teammates gave a sense of nationalism to the citizens of Algeria during their efforts in the war. Mekhloufi (and many others) sacrificed their careers by playing in less competitive environments with less demanding training regimes. Mekhloufi is quoted saying "I had lost the taste for effort, the necessary fight" when asked about playing political football. Even though France attempted to hinder the FLN team's success by requesting to FIFA that the team not be recognized, FIFA was only able to enforce these restrictions in some countries.
Death
On 8 November 2024, it was announced that Mekhloufi had died at the age of 88.
Career statistics
= Club
== International
=Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Mekhloufi goal.
Honours
= Player
=Saint-Étienne
French Division 1: 1956–57, 1963–64, 1966–67, 1967–68
Coupe de France: 1968
Trophée des Champions: 1957, 1967
Coupe Charles Drago: 1955, 1958
France military
Military World Cup: 1957
Individual
All-time AS Saint-Étienne top scorer: 192 goals
= Manager
=Algeria
Mediterranean Games gold medal: 1975
All-Africa Games gold medal: 1978
Individual
Lebanese Premier League Best Coach: 1996–97
References
External links
Rachid Mekhloufi at IMDb
Profile
"Profile". Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
Short bio
Another bio
https://www.coppolaeditore.it/le-figurine/189-mekhloufi.html di Raffaele Trito
"Rachid Mekhloufi at pari-et-gagne.com". Archived from the original on 8 February 2012. Retrieved 19 August 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Tim nasional sepak bola Aljazair
- SC Bastia
- Grup 2 Piala Dunia FIFA 1982
- Rachid Mekhloufi
- Deaths in 2024
- SC Bastia
- 2024 in Algeria
- List of notable Algerians
- List of Algerian football players in foreign leagues
- AS Saint-Étienne
- 1982 FIFA World Cup squads
- AS Marsa
- List of Ligue 1 top scorers
