Algeria: search for Belmadi’s successor officially opens
Algeria: the search for Belmadi’s successor officially opens as the federation seeks a new national-team coach.
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Djamel Belmadi has still not left his post as Algeria coach. After the Fennecs’ group-stage elimination at AFCON 2023, he agreed with the Algerian federation to resign, according to FAF president Walid Sadi. But the situation changed when Belmadi refused to leave. Local media reported a demand for 6 months’ pay, or 1.25 million euros, to terminate his contract, which runs until 2026. The 2019 African champion then entered a dispute with the FAF. Although the matter remains unresolved, the federation is already seeking a new coach for Algeria’s national team.
“FAF President Mr Walid Sadi will establish an ad hoc committee on Monday to examine applications for the position of senior national-team coach. The committee will submit its conclusions within no more than ten days,” reads the official statement published on the federation’s website on Sunday 4 February.
The names of some candidates have reportedly already emerged. Former Morocco coach Vahid Halilhodzic and Branko Ivankovic, Croatia’s former assistant coach in the 1990s, were named by Algerian outlet La Gazette du Fennec. Belmadi took charge of Algeria in 2018 and won AFCON in Egypt in 2019. He nevertheless failed to qualify Algeria for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
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