Algeria: FAF hits out at Belmadi and threatens action

The battle between Djamel Belmadi and the Algerian Football Federation (FAF) rumbles on. The FAF has decided to part company with him after Algeria's first-round exit from the 2023 AFCON, but the coach is demanding payment of all his monthly salaries (1.25 million euros, to terminate a contract that runs until 2026). The federation is not having it. The Algerian Football Federation issued a statement on Tuesday 30 January. "Given the resources and material conditions provided by the State and the Algerian Football Federation, it was legitimate to expect performances of a completely different calibre in return. For the second consecutive time (AFCON 2021 and AFCON 2023), the national team failed to get past the first round and finished 4th and bottom of the group. This is a proven, painful and hard-to-accept failure, on top of the failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup. The federation, aware of the weight of its responsibilities and of its duty to safeguard the interests of the national teams and of Algerian football, approached the national coach, Djamel Belmadi, through its President, Mr Walid Sadi, in Bouaké, Ivory Coast, the day after the bitter first-round elimination, to take stock of the circumstances of this failure, and a mutual agreement on an amicable termination was reached. The talks begun in Bouaké were due to lead, the next day on the delegation's return to Algiers, to the formalisation of the amicable termination agreement by the coach and his staff."

Belmadi backtracks

The FAF went on: "The very next day, the parties concerned responded to the invitation of the FAF president, with a view to ratifying the agreement reached the day before in Ivory Coast. All members of the technical staff signed the amicable termination agreement, except Djamel Belmadi, who surprisingly backtracked, asking for more time to think, considering the agreed deal, in its financial aspect, to fall short of his expectations."

Furthermore, Djamel Belmadi's decision to go to Qatar after the 2023 AFCON without signing the papers has not gone down well. The FAF does not rule out taking the matter to court. "The FAF regards his silence and his departure from the country as a refusal and feels compelled to turn the page for good and to look ahead to a new challenge with a new national coach and a new technical staff, who will be appointed shortly. The federation has noted this regrettable stance and now reserves the right to draw the legitimate consequences. It will act according to the protection of the major interests of national football."

Read also: Algeria: Is Djamel Belmadi ready to dig in?

https://twitter.com/Nabil_djellit/status/1752435106667512175