33·Legends

‹ All XIs

Algeria

The thirty-three greatest. Build your eleven, then settle the duels.

The pitch 0 / 11

Drag a position anywhere and the label updates live. Tap a name to fill the open spot, tap ✕ to free a position.

The 330 on the pitch

The duels

Pick the greater legend. Every vote moves the people's ranking of Algeria.

The 33 of Algeria

Ranked by the almanac. Vote in the duels to build the people's version.

1 RM 90 Rabah Madjer 87 caps · 28 goals · NA Hussein Dey, Racing Club de FranceVienna, 77th minute of the 1987 European Cup final: Juary pulled the ball back, Madjer let it run behind his standing leg and flicked it in with his heel, and Porto beat Bayern 2-1. He won that European Cup and the Intercontinental Cup the same year, three Portuguese titles, the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations on home soil as its best player, and African Footballer of the Year in 1987. SS1987–90

90 Riyad Mahrez 120 caps · 40 goals · Leicester City, Manchester City · national Player of the Year 2016Nigeria built a wall and laid a man on the grass behind it in the fifth minute of stoppage time in the 2019 semi-final, and Mahrez curled the free kick over both into the top corner. Algeria won that Africa Cup of Nations, and he collected five English league titles, one with Leicester in 2016 and four at Manchester City, the 2023 Champions League, and African Footballer of the Year in 2016. RM2016–23

89 Lakhdar Belloumi 101 caps · 27 goals · Ghali Chabab Mascara, MC AlgiersSeconds after West Germany equalised in Gijón on 16 June 1982, Belloumi turned in Salah Assad's cross for the 68th-minute winner that beat the reigning European champions 2-1 in Algeria's first World Cup match. He was African Footballer of the Year in 1981, reached the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations final, won Algerian titles with GC Mascara in 1984 and MC Oran in 1988, and retired on 100 caps. CAM1980–88

4 MD 88 Mustapha Dahleb CS Sedan Ardennes, Paris Saint-GermainParis called him le prince du Parc through ten seasons at PSG, and the 85 first-division goals he left behind in 1984 stood as the club record for more than thirty years until Zlatan Ibrahimović passed him. He won the Coupe de France in 1982 and 1983, scored 98 goals in all competitions for PSG, and played at the 1982 World Cup in Spain. CAM1982–84

5 HL 85 Hacène Lalmas 43 caps · 14 goals · OMR El Annasser, CR BelouizdadOn 22 October 1962 Lalmas scored fourteen goals in one match, an 18-0 win over Birtouta, and no Algerian bettered that single-game figure until 2007; the terraces called him El Kebch, the Ram. He won four league titles and three Algerian Cups with CR Belouizdad, three Maghreb Champions Cups, the 1969-70 scoring prize, and finished with 131 championship goals and 43 caps. CM1962–2007

85 Ismaël Bennacer AC Arles, ArsenalInside the opening two minutes of the 2019 final against Senegal, Bennacer played the pass that Baghdad Bounedjah turned into the only goal, one of three assists he provided in Egypt at the age of twenty-one. He left that tournament as its best player and best young player with the Africa Cup of Nations won, and he later became the first Algerian to win the Scudetto, taking Serie A with Milan in 2022. CM2019–22

7 SA 85 Salah Assad 68 caps · 18 goals · RC Kouba, FC MulhouseTwo goals inside the first 32 minutes against Chile in Oviedo on 24 June 1982 gave Assad two of Algeria's five goals at that World Cup, and eight days earlier his cross had set up Belloumi's winner against West Germany. He won the Algerian championship with RC Kouba in 1981, gold at the 1978 All-Africa Games, and a runners-up medal at the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations, where he made the team of the tournament. LM1978–82

8 MB 84 Madjid Bougherra 70 caps · FC Gueugnon, RangersPFA Scotland handed him goal of the season on 3 May 2010 for a centre-half's strike in Rangers' 7-1 win over Dundee United, and four years later he wore the armband as Algeria took Germany to extra time in Porto Alegre. Three Scottish league titles with Rangers, a Scottish Cup and two League Cups, two Qatari titles with Lekhwiya, 70 caps, Algerian Footballer of the Year in 2009 and 2010. CB2009–10

83 Islam Slimani 104 caps · 45 goals · JSM Chéraga, CR BelouizdadHis header against Russia in Curitiba on 26 June 2014 rescued a 1-1 draw and carried Algeria into a World Cup knockout round for the first time. Algeria's all-time leading scorer, passing Abdelhafid Tasfaout's 36 with a brace against Niger on 8 October 2021 and now on 46 goals in 105 caps, an Africa Cup of Nations winner in 2019, and Leicester's record signing at 28 million pounds in 2016. ST2014–21

10 LC 83 Lakhdar Cerbah Cerbah kept goal in all three of Algeria's group games in Spain in 1982, including the day in Gijón on 16 June when they beat West Germany, the reigning European champions, 2-1. Runner-up at the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations, 57 caps between 1975 and 1986, five Algerian league titles, gold at the 1975 Mediterranean Games and the 1978 All-Africa Games, and later voted Algeria's goalkeeper of the century. GK1975–86

83 Yacine Brahimi Stade Rennais, Clermont Foot 63Porto's Champions League campaign opened on 17 September 2014 with a 6-0 win over BATE Borisov, and Brahimi took three of the goals. Africa Cup of Nations winner with Algeria in 2019, scorer in the 4-2 defeat of South Korea at the 2014 World Cup, Primeira Liga champion in 2018 and Portuguese Super Cup winner the same year, BBC African Footballer of the Year for 2014, 68 caps and 15 goals. CAM2014–19

12 AT 82 Abdelhafid Tasfaout 87 caps · 36 goals · Mouloudia Club of Oran, AJ AuxerreFor nineteen years the Algeria scoring record belonged to him, 36 goals in 80 games between 1990 and 2002, the last of them against Benin in January 2002 before Slimani finally passed the mark in October 2021. Two Algerian league titles with MC Oran in 1992 and 1993, top scorer in both seasons with 17 goals, the French league and cup double with Auxerre in 1996, and Algerian Player of the Year three years running from 1992. SS1990–2021

13 AB 82 Ali Bencheikh 63 caps · 7 goals · MC Algiers, JH DjazaïrThe terraces called him Alilou, and he was in the MC Alger side that lost the 1976 African Cup of Champions Clubs final 3-0 in Conakry, then won the return 3-0 in Algiers on 12 December and took the shootout. First Algerian club to lift that trophy, four Algerian league titles and three cups, runner-up for African Footballer of the Year in 1978, 47 caps, and a place in Algeria's 1982 World Cup squad. CM1976–82

14 DM 82 Djamel Menad 81 caps · 25 goals · JS El Biar, Nîmes OlympiqueTwo goals in three minutes against Nigeria, on 69 and 72 minutes of the 5-1 opening win at home on 2 March 1990, set the tone for the tournament Algeria would finally win. Top scorer of that Africa Cup of Nations with four, including the fourth-minute opener against Senegal in the semi-final, and in the Team of the Tournament; 81 caps and 25 goals, plus the 1995 African Cup Winners' Cup with JS Kabylie. LM1990–95

15 MS 82 Moussa Saïb 74 caps · 7 goals · AJ Auxerre, Valencia CFHe scored just before half-time against Egypt on 8 March 1990, two days after his twenty-first birthday, sealing a third straight group win for the hosts on the way to Algeria's first Cup of Nations title. African Champions Cup with JS Kabylie in 1990, the French league title with Auxerre in 1996, first Algerian to play in the Premier League after joining Tottenham in 1998, 74 caps, and Algeria's captain in the early 1990s. CM1990–98

82 Nadir Belhadj FC Gueugnon, CS Sedan ArdennesCamp Nou, 5 June 2007: he beat Argentina's wall twice, on 42 minutes and again on 76, and Algeria still lost 4-3. Algeria's 2010 World Cup and the AFCON semi-final that same year, the AFC Champions League with Al Sadd in 2011 where he scored the winning penalty in the final shootout, the Qatari league title in 2013, an FA Cup final with Portsmouth, and 55 caps in all. LB2007–13

82 Raïs M'Bolhi Olympique de Marseille, FC Ryukyu OkinawaM'Bolhi made eleven saves against Germany in Porto Alegre on 30 June 2014, holding the eventual champions scoreless for 90 minutes before Algeria lost 2-1 in extra time. Five years later he kept every minute of Algeria's 2019 Africa Cup of Nations win, taking man of the match in the final against Senegal and the tournament's best goalkeeper award, then the 2021 FIFA Arab Cup, across 96 caps between 2010 and 2024. GK2010–24

18 SF 82 Sofiane Feghouli 82 caps · 19 goals · Grenoble Foot 38, Valencia CFVertonghen tugged him back in the box at Belo Horizonte on 17 June 2014, and Feghouli put the penalty past Thibaut Courtois for Algeria's first World Cup goal in 28 years. He won the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with Algeria, two Süper Lig titles with Galatasaray in 2018 and 2019 plus the Turkish Cup and Super Cup, and has 83 caps and 19 goals for Algeria, with the Algerian Footballer of the Year award in 2012. RM2012–19

81 Aïssa Mandi Stade de Reims, Real Betis BalompiéBounedjah scored inside two minutes of the Cairo final on 19 July 2019, and Mandi spent the remaining 88 shepherding a one-goal lead past Senegal, booked in stoppage time. The Africa Cup of Nations that night was Algeria's first title in 29 years, and he has since passed 120 caps to become the most capped Algerian ever, played at the 2014 World Cup and returned to the squad for 2026, after eight years with Real Betis and Villarreal. CB2014–26

20 AY 81 Antar Yahia 53 caps · OGC Nice, VfL BochumIn Omdurman on 18 November 2009, Yahia met Karim Ziani's pass on the volley and buried it under the bar, the only goal of the playoff that sent Algeria past Egypt to the World Cup. He captained Algeria at the 2010 World Cup, their first finals since 1986, reached the semi-finals at that year's Africa Cup of Nations, and was voted both Algerian and Arab Player of the Year for 2009 across 53 caps. CB1986–2010

21 BB 81 Baghdad Bounedjah RCG Oran, Union Sportive Madinet El HarrachSeventy-nine seconds into the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations final in Cairo, Bounedjah's shot deflected off a Senegal defender and looped over Alfred Gomis, and Algeria protected it for the rest of the night. That title was Algeria's first in 29 years, he added the 2021 Arab Cup, and in Qatar he set a Stars League record of 39 goals in the 2018-19 season and topped the 2018 AFC Champions League scoring charts as Algerian Footballer of the Year. ST2018–21

81 Rafik Halliche 41 caps · NA Hussein Dey, C.D. NacionalThe corner dropped at Porto Alegre on 22 June 2014, South Korea's keeper came and missed it, and Halliche's header made it 2-0 in the 4-2 win, the first time an African side scored four at a World Cup. He won the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with Algeria, played all three games at the 2010 World Cup including the goalless night against England, and started the Omdurman playoff against Egypt that took them there, ending on 41 caps. CB2010–19

23 RS 81 Rafik Saïfi 64 caps · 18 goals · ES Troyes AC, F.C. LorientSaïfi's 59th-minute strike beat Zambia in Blida on 6 September 2009, and nine months later, at 35, he closed a twelve-year international career against the United States in Pretoria. The World Cup finals in South Africa capped 64 caps and 18 goals for Algeria, alongside an Algerian league title with MC Alger in 1999, the 2001 Intertoto Cup with Troyes and the 2008 Algerian Footballer of the Year award. ST1999–2009

80 Adlène Guedioura 63 caps · Wolverhampton Wanderers, Nottingham ForestGuedioura's 35-yard equaliser at Elland Road on 20 March 2012 came inside eight minutes, and Nottingham Forest went on to win 7-3 at Leeds. He won the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with Algeria and was named in the Team of the Tournament, played at the 2010 World Cup, finished with 63 caps, and took Goal of the Season at both Nottingham Forest and Wolves in 2011-12, thought to be a first for any player. CDM2010–19

25 NK 80 Noureddine Kourichi 30 caps · Valenciennes, FC Girondins de BordeauxIn Gijón on 16 June 1982 he took the job nobody wanted, following Horst Hrubesch everywhere and giving the target man nothing in the air, and Algeria beat the reigning European champions West Germany 2-1 on their World Cup debut. He won 30 caps and scored twice between 1980 and 1986, played at two World Cups, and took third place at the 1984 Cup of Nations after Algeria beat Egypt 3-1 in Abidjan. CB1980–86

26 TB 80 Tedj Bensaoula 51 caps · 20 goals · Mouloudia Club of Oran, Le Havre ACIn Oviedo on 24 June 1982 he made it three against Chile before half time, and Algeria held on to win 3-2 at their first World Cup. He left the game with 19 goals in 51 caps between 1979 and 1986, two World Cups behind him, runner-up at the 1980 Africa Cup of Nations, third in 1984, and the French second division title won with Le Havre in 1985. ST1979–86

27 YA 80 Youcef Atal K.V. Kortrijk, OGC NiceOn 28 April 2019 Patrick Vieira moved his right-back to the left wing at the Allianz Riviera, and Atal answered with three goals in a 3-0 win over Guingamp, the first Ligue 1 hat-trick by an Algerian in 33 years. He won the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations with Algeria, an injury against Ivory Coast ending his tournament in the quarter-final, and later added two Qatar Stars League titles with Al Sadd. RB2010s

28 DM 79 Djamel Mesbah FC Aarau, US LecceTwo months after Milan paid Lecce 1.2 million euros for him, he rose in Turin on 20 March 2012 and headed the equaliser past Juventus in the Coppa Italia semi-final, his first goal for the club. A Swiss title with Basel in 2004-05 sits at the top of his honours; for Algeria he collected 36 caps, travelled to the World Cups of 2010 and 2014, and scored once, against Malawi in October 2014. LB2004–14

29 ML 79 Medhi Lacen ASOA Valence, Deportivo AlavésGermany needed extra time to get past him and Algeria in Porto Alegre on 30 June 2014, after ninety minutes in which his midfield screen gave the eventual world champions nothing. Born in Versailles, he chose Algeria and won 43 caps, played two World Cups and two Africa Cups of Nations, and in Spain he made 273 La Liga appearances across ten seasons, taking Getafe back up through the 2017 promotion play-off. CDM2014–17

30 LG 78 Lounès Gaouaoui 49 caps · JS Kabylie, WA TlemcenThree years running, in 2000, 2001 and 2002, he kept goal for the JS Kabylie side that won the CAF Cup, three continental titles inside three seasons in Tizi Ouzou. Gaouaoui added Algerian league titles with Kabylie in 2004 and 2006, played 49 times for Algeria between 2001 and 2010, and travelled to the 2010 World Cup in South Africa as the third goalkeeper in the squad. GK2000–10

78 Yazid Mansouri 67 caps · Le Havre AC, LB ChâteaurouxThe armband was on his sleeve in Omdurman on 18 November 2009, when Algeria beat Egypt 1-0 in a neutral-ground playoff and reached a World Cup for the first time since 1986; he then lost the captaincy and watched all three games in South Africa from the bench. Sixty-seven caps between 2001 and 2010 leave him ninth on Algeria's all-time list, with three Cup of Nations campaigns behind him and more than 100 league appearances for Lorient. CDM1986–2010

77 Essaïd Belkalem JS Kabylie, WatfordHe scored his only Algeria goal in Sion on 31 May 2014, forcing in a corner after thirteen minutes against Armenia, and a month later he was the centre-back sent out to face Germany in the round of 16. Those 19 caps between 2012 and 2018 took in Algeria's first World Cup knockout tie, and he reached it from JS Kabylie, where 83 matches earned a free transfer to Granada in 2013 and loans at Watford and Trabzonspor. CB2012–18

77 Mehdi Mostefa 25 caps · ASOA Valence, Nîmes OlympiqueHe lasted all 120 minutes in Porto Alegre on 30 June 2014, screening the back four while Germany, who went on to lift the trophy, needed extra time to beat Algeria 2-1. That match was Algeria's first ever World Cup knockout tie, and it closed a 26-cap international run that also took in a starting place at right-back against Belgium in the group opener and the 2013 Africa Cup of Nations. RB2013–14

About this XI

Algeria's pool is led by Rabah Madjer, Riyad Mahrez and Lakhdar Belloumi. The 33 covers 3 goalkeepers, 10 defenders, 14 midfielders and 6 forwards. Rabah Madjer leads the pool at 90 overall. Pick a formation, drag your eleven onto the pitch, then settle the duels below. Your votes reorder the people's ranking of these 33 in real time.

Who is the greatest Algeria footballer of all time?

In the 33 Legends editorial ranking, Rabah Madjer leads Algeria with an overall rating of 90. The editorial top five: Rabah Madjer, Riyad Mahrez, Lakhdar Belloumi, Mustapha Dahleb, Hacène Lalmas. The people's ranking on this page moves with every duel vote and can disagree.

How were these 33 Algeria players chosen?

The pool covers every position across Algeria's football history. Ratings weigh peak level, longevity, honours and historical standing, then the full methodology page explains the tiers. Fan votes in the duels build a second, independent ranking.

Which Algeria players reach the Immortal tier or higher?

None yet. Rabah Madjer leads the Algeria pool at 90, in the Legend tier.

Can I build and share my own Algeria all-time XI?

Yes. Pick one of eight formations, drag any of the 33 onto the pitch, and export your lineup as a PNG. There is no account and no sign-up.