Amar Rouaï (March 9, 1932 – November 11, 2017) was a former

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

n international

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

player and

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. From 1958 to 1962, he was a member of the FLN football team.

Club career

Rouaï began his career with

MC El Eulma Mouloudia Chabab El Eulma (), () known as MC El Eulma or simply MCEE for short, is an Algerian football club based in El Eulma. The club was founded in 1936 and its colors are green and red. Their home stadium, Messaoud Zeghar Stadium, has a c ...

, making his debut with the senior team while aged 15. After five years with MC El Eulma, he moved to France to embark on a professional career. After two seasons with US Annemasse, he signed his first professional contract with

Besançon Besançon (, ; , ; archaic ; ) is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Doubs in the region of Bourgogne-Franche-Comté. The city is located in Eastern France, close to the Jura Mountains and the border with Switzerland. Capi ...

. In 1957, he joined

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

side

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

, making 27 appearances and scoring 7 goals. However, at the end of the season, he secretly left the team to join the FLN football team. In 1962, after

gained its independence, Rouaï returned to Angers. He made 15 more appearances for the club, scoring 1 goal, before buying out his contract.

International career

In 1958, Rouaï secretly left

to go to

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

and join the FLN football team in support of the Algerian independence movement. He spent the next four years traveling and playing with the team. After Algeria gained its independence, he was called up twice to the

Algeria national football team The Algeria national football team () represents Algeria in men's international Association football, football, and is governed by the Algerian Football Federation. The team plays their home matches at the Stade du 5 Juillet, 5 July Stadium in ...

. The first, in 1962, was a friendly against French club

Nîmes Nîmes ( , ; ; Latin: ''Nemausus'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Gard Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administrative region), Occitanie Regions of France, region of Southern France. Located between the Med ...

. In the second, on July 4, 1963, he made his official debut in a friendly against

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

Death

Rouai died in Annemasse at the French-Swiss border on November 11, 2017, at the age of 85.Décès de l’ancienne gloire de l’équipe du FLN Amar Rouai

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rouai, Amar 1932 births 2017 deaths Footballers from Sétif Algerian men's footballers Algeria men's international footballers Algeria national under-23 football team managers Algerian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate football managers in Libya Expatriate men's footballers in France Algerian expatriate sportspeople in France Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Libya Angers SCO players Racing Besançon players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players MC El Eulma players USM Bel Abbès players ASM Oran managers JS Kabylie managers MC Oran managers FLN men's international footballers Men's association football midfielders Algerian football managers 21st-century Algerian people