Rachid Mekhloufi


Rachid Mekhloufi is a French-Algerian former football striker. He later became a manager and coached the Algeria national football team.

Club career

Saint-Étienne

Servette

Bastia

Clubs goals

[UEFA] competitions

International career

International goals

National Team

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.28 February 196319 Juin 1965, Oran4–02–0Friendly
1.28 February 196319 Juin 1965, Oran4–03–0Friendly
2.5 July 1963Stade d'El Anasser, Algiers1–11–1Friendly
3.7 July 196319 Juin 1965, Oran2–21–1Friendly
6.22 March 1963Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria2–21–2Friendly

Career statistics

Club

Honours

Clubs

; Saint-Étienne:
; Servette:
In the middle of the Algerian War, on April 13th 1958, ten of the most well-known France-Based professional football players fled from France to go and play for their new FLN football team. This team was created from the National Liberation Front. 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 fellow teammates wanted to show the French people the serious war that was going on in Algeria. Many of them did not realize the extent of the war going on, and when ten high-caliber players lef, the French citizens had to wonder and figure out the exact reason why-especially when a few of the 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 sacrificed their careers by playing in less competitive environments with lesser demanding training regimes. Mekhloufi is quoted saying "I had lost the taste for effort, the necessary fight" when asked about playing political football. The France-based footballers were a source of nationhood for Algerians, especially in times such as Algeria's 2-0 victory over West Germany in Algiers on January 1, 1964 where Mekhloufi and Mustapha Zitouni starred.
After the disbanding of the FLN in 1962, Mekhloufi returned to play in France. Later on Mekhloufi would come back to manage and coach the Algeria National Football team.