Algeria have a rich World Cup pedigree but have been absent from the biggest stage since 2014.
Under coach Vladimir Petkovic, Algeria have blended emerging talents like Mohamed Amoura and Amine Gouiri with experienced players such as Riyad Mahrez, restoring stability after years of inconsistency. While their early exit from the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations raised concerns, the squad’s quality and renewed direction offer hope they can compete strongly in a tough World Cup group featuring Argentina, Austria and Jordan.
How Algeria qualified for the 2026 World Cup
As one of nine group winners in African qualifying, Algeria automatically secured their place at the 2026 World Cup.
Eight wins, one draw and a single defeat on Matchday 3 against Guinea. Twenty-four goals scored and only eight conceded saw the Desert Foxes storm Group G at a canter. Second-placed Uganda finished seven points behind.
Mohamed Amoura finished as the group's top scorer with 10 goals, seven better than the next best.
It marked the end of a 12-year absence from the global finals for the North Africans. The expanded 2026 World Cup will be Algeria's fifth appearance on the biggest stage of all.
How are they shaping up?
Algerians have fond memories of their team's performances at World Cups.
At their first World Cup, in 1982, Algeria were unlucky to be eliminated despite stunning West Germany 2-1 and beating Chile 3-2.
Their last appearance at a World Cup, at Brazil 2014, saw them come within a whisker of beating eventual champions Germany in the last-16.
That tournament represented the zenith of Algerian football, cementing the image of a team capable of mixing it with the world's elite, but also raised questions about what would come next.
Years of institutional infighting, player fallout and a team in permanent transition followed. Their triumph at the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations fuelled hopes of a renaissance, but it wasn't until late 2025 that Algeria finally sustained a qualifying campaign that took them back to the top table of world football.
"The most important thing is not to look too much at the past. We must live in the present, work every day, and improve step by step. The past is an experience, not a burden. We need to focus on what we can improve today," Algeria's Bosnian coach Vladimir Ketkovic told the Confederation of African Football's website.
Petkovic boasts a squad brimming with young talent who have cut their teeth in competitive leagues across Europe and beyond.
Mohamed Amoura, the 25-year-old jet-heeled forward who lit up the Belgian league and now plies his trade in Germany at Wolfsburg, emerged during qualifying as the flag-bearer for Algerian football’s next generation.
There is Amine Gouiri, whose goals at Marseille have helped propel OM into a push for a European spot.
Amoura and Gouiri can always lean on the vast experience of Riyad Mahrez, the silky winger with over 130 caps who, after winning Premier League titles with Leicester City and Manchester City, joined the Saudi Pro League revolution and led Al Ahli to a first Asian Champions League crown last year.
There is the thrust from left full-back of Rayan Ait-Nouri. Injuries have hampered his time at Manchester City, but the defender has enough body of work from his time in the Premier League and with the national team to suggest, if fully fit, he can be a force to be reckoned with in North America.
“I always had good sensations being in Algeria and I still have them now that I play for my country. It’s my chance to make the people happy in a country which made me happy," Ait-Nouri told The National in an interview last year.
Like those before him, Petkovic has been savvy in taking advantage of Algeria's vast diaspora. Luca Zidane, the goalkeeping son of legendary French footballer Zinedine Zidane, switched his allegiance from France to his family's ancestral home last September.
Despite a perfect group record, Algeria bowed out of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations at the quarter-final stage, raising doubts about their ability to go deep in tournament football.
Placed in a group containing world champions Argentina, Austria and debutants Jordan, Petkovic must instil a belief in his squad that they can follow their forebearers' lead and make more World Cup memories.
Amoura's rapid rise
Mohamed Amoura's ascent to Algeria's talisman has been as rapid as one of his mazy runs.
Clocked at a shade over 36 kph on the speedometer, Amoura's goals during qualifying ensured Algeria suffered no unexpected hiccups.
"There is no secret to my scoring 10 goals in World Cup qualifiers. My achievements are due to hard work and the confidence given to me by my teammates and coaches," Amoura said.
"It is a huge honour to wear the Algerian jersey. I want to help my team as much as possible, whether it is scoring, creating goals or dropping back to defend."
His game is based on movement and instinct, to exploit space behind opposition defences. Over the past six months, his form at Wolfsburg have had many speculating that he will soon join the likes of Omar Marmoush and Hugo Ekitike in swapping the Bundesliga for the Premier League.
“Amoura is very confident in his abilities, which is reflected in his recent excellent performances," Petkovic reflected after Amoura's star turn in a World Cup qualifying win over Mozambique in March 2025.
Unlike the majority of the Algeria squad, Amoura was actually born and raised there. “I come from the mountains,” he says of his roots, in Taher, near Jelil, eastern Algeria.
His father worked on farms; his own love of football grew from playing in the streets, and, in his early teens, became a vocation only once he enrolled at training with the youth teams of JS Djijel, a club in Algeria’s regionalised lower divisions.
He endured setbacks, like a rejection from the Paradou academy in Algiers. Arouma suspects his height – he’s a diminutive 1.68 metres – counted against him.
But he kept dribbling, kept refining his tricks, and found his way to ES Setif. There, he scored on his senior debut, aged 19. He finished his first full season at Setif with 17 goals.
Lugano of Switzerland recruited him, and after very few training sessions he had a new nickname. Teammates called him “little Salah,” for his speed, his confidence on the ball and for the career parallels with Mohamed Salah: a North African prodigy signed young by a Swiss club, as the Egyptian was by Basel.
The Lugano chapter had its frustrations, Amoura often used as an impact substitute when he’d have preferred to start games. But he did enough to grab the attention of Belgian club Union Saint-Gilloise, who looked less at the number of minutes he played and more what he did with them.
“What coaches see, besides the goals and the pace, is that he has the capacity to keep running and running to press the opposition, said former Belgium international Nordin Jabri.
A loan move to Wolfsburg was made permanent last summer. His numbers in a middling German team stack up, with 18 in a little over 50 league appearances [UPDATE BEFORE PUBLISHING]. His goals for his national team are even more impressive, scoring at just under a clip every other game for the Desert Foxes.
Petkovic's calming influence
Under Petkovic's astute guidance, Algeria have rediscovered a calmer momentum. Appointed in 2024, the Bosnian tactician quickly restored a competitive edge to Les Fennecs, sealing a convincing qualification for the 2026 World Cup.
"The atmosphere is excellent, It is serious, focused and there is a desire to give our best," Amoura said of the atmosphere under Petkovic.
With the Algerian FA sufficiently satisfied with the direction of the national team under Petkovic to offer the head coach a new contract [They are in negotiations, so update when confirmed] it means Algeria will head into the World Cup with clarity over their technical direction.
It will be the veteran coach's second soiree at a World Cup, having guided Switzerland to the last 16 at the 2018 finals in Russia.
Algeria's opening game doesn't come much tougher. World champions Argentina, including a Lionel Messi most likely appearing at his final World Cup, will line up opposite the North Africans in Kansas City on June 16.
A coach known for cajoling the best out of his players, making them better than the sum of their parts, Petkovic will need to be at his tactical best to cause an upset.
Fixtures
Group J
v Argentina, June 16 in Kansas City
v Jordan, June 22 in Santa Clara, California
v Austria, June 27 in Kansas City
Squad
Goalkeepers: Oussama Benbot (USM Alger), Melvin Masstil (Stade Nyonnaise), Luca Zidane (Granada)
Defenders: Achraf Abada (USM Alger), Rayan Ait Nouri (Manchester City), Zinedine Belaid (JS Kabylie), Rafik Belghali (Verona), Ramy Bensebaini (Borussia Dortmund), Samir Chergui (Paris FC), Jaouen Hadjam (Young Boys), Aissa Mandi (Lille), Mohamed Amine Tougai (Esperance)
Midfielders: Houssem Aouar (Al Ittihad), Nabil Bentaleb (Lille), Hicham Boudaoui (Nice), Fares Chaibi (Eintracht Frankfurt), Ibrahim Maza (Bayer Leverkusen), Yassine Titraoui (Charleroi), Ramiz Zerrouki (FC Twente)
Forwards: Mohamed Amoura (Wolfsburg), Nadir Benbouali (Gyori ETO), Adil Boulbina (Al Duhail), Fares Ghedjemis (Frosinone), Amine Gouiri (Marseille), Riyad Mahrez (Al Ahli Saudi), Anis Hadj Moussa (Feyenoord)
