Rachid Mekhloufi

Rachid Mekhloufi (Arabic: رشيد مخلوفي‎; born 12 August 1936 in Sétif, French Algeria) is a French-Algerian former football striker. He later became a manager and coached the Algeria national football team.

Rachid Mekhloufi
Personal information
Full name Rachid Mekhloufi
Date of birth (1936-08-12) 12 August 1936
Place of birth Sétif, French Algeria
Height 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s) Striker
Youth career
19??–1954 USM Sétif
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1954–1958 Saint-Étienne 102 (59)
1962–1963 Servette FC 19 (13)
1963–1968 Saint-Étienne 192 (78)
1968–1970 Bastia 67 (20)
Total 380 (170)
National team
1956–1957 France 4 (0)
1958–1962 FLN 40
1963–1969 [1] Algeria 10 (5)
Teams managed
1969–1970 Bastia
1971–1972 Algeria
1975–1979 Algeria
1982 Algeria
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Club career

UEFA competitions
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.4 September 1957Ibrox Stadium, Glasgow, Scotland Rangers0–1[2]3–11957–58 European Cup
2.12 September 1962Stade des Charmilles, Genève, Switzerland Feyenoord1–0[3]1–31962–63 European Cup
3.19 September 1962De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands Feyenoord0–1[4]1–31962–63 European Cup
4.19 September 1962De Kuip, Rotterdam, Netherlands Feyenoord0–3[4]1–31962–63 European Cup
5.9 September 1964Stade Geoffroy-Guichard, Saint-Étienne, France La Chaux-de-Fonds1–0[5]2–21964–65 European Cup

International career

National Team
Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.
#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.28 February 196319 Juin 1965, Oran Czechoslovakia4–0[6]2–0Friendly
1.28 February 196319 Juin 1965, Oran Czechoslovakia4–03–0Friendly
2.5 July 1963Stade d'El Anasser, Algiers Egypt1–1[7]1–1Friendly
3.7 July 196319 Juin 1965, Oran Egypt2–2[8]1–1Friendly
6.22 March 1963Alexandria Stadium, Alexandria Egypt2–2[9]1–2Friendly

Career statistics

Club
As of 20 July 2016[10][11]
Club Season League Cup[lower-alpha 1] Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Saint-Étienne 1954-55 Division 1 16964——2213
1955-56 312140——3521
1956-57 302521——3226
1957-58 254202[lower-alpha 2]1—295
Total 1025914521—11865
Servette 1962-63 Nationalliga A 1913003[lower-alpha 2]2—2215
Total 19130032—2215
Saint-Étienne 1963-64 Division 1 341610——3516
1964-65 328502[lower-alpha 2]1—399
1965-66 382111——3922
1966-67 381221—1[lower-alpha 3]14114
1967-68 307554[lower-alpha 2]0—3912
Total 19278187611121787
Bastia 1968-69 Division 1 331310——3413
1969-70 34792——439
Total 6720102——7722
Career Total 380170421411411434189
  1. Includes the Coupe de France, Coupe Charles Drago and Swiss Cup
  2. All appearance(s) in European Champion Clubs' Cup
  3. Appearance in Challenge des champions

Honours

Clubs
Saint-Étienne

National team

Managerial

Personal

Legacy

In the middle of the Algerian War, on 13 April 1958, ten of the most well-known France-Based professional football (soccer) players fled from France to go and play for their new FLN football team. This team was created from the National Liberation Front (Algeria). 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."[12] 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 (and many others) 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.[12] 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 1 January 1964, when Mekhloufi and Mustapha Zitouni starred.

After the disbanding of the FLN in 1962, Mekhloufi returned to play in France for the Saint-Étienne football club. He was afraid that the crowd might react negatively to him, but when he got the ball for the first time, the public burst into cheers. In 1968, his team won the Coupe de France. The trophy was placed in his hands by the French president, General de Gaulle himself, with the words, "You are France." Later on Mekhloufi would come back to Algeria to manage and coach the Algeria National Football team.

References
  1. http://dzfootball.free.fr/EN/Joueurs/fiche/Mekhloufi-Rachid.html
  2. "Rangers 3–1 Saint-Étienne". UEFA.com. 4 September 1957. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  3. "Servette 1–3 Feyenoord". UEFA.com. 12 September 1962. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  4. "Feyenoord 1–3 Servette". UEFA.com. 19 September 1962. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  5. "Saint-Étienne 2–2 La Chaux-de-Fonds". UEFA.com. 9 September 1964. Retrieved 27 August 2015.
  6. "Algeria vs. Czechoslovakia - 28 February 1963". dzfoot. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  7. "Algeria vs. Égypte - 5 July 1963". dzfoot. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  8. "Algeria vs. Égypte - 7 July 1963". dzfoot. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  9. "Algeria vs. Égypte - 22 March 1963". dzfoot. Retrieved 31 October 2014.
  10. "Rachid Mekhloufi". footballdatabase. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  11. "Rachid Mekhloufi". national-football-teams.com. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  12. Alegi, Peter. (2010). African Soccerscapes : How a Continent Changed the World's Game. Athens: Ohio University Press. ISBN 978-0-89680-472-2. OCLC 794698908.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.