Rachid Mekhloufi ( ar, رشيد مخلوفي; born 12 August 1936 in Sétif, French Algeria) is a French-

Algeria ) , image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Algiers , coordinates = , largest_city = capital , relig ...

n former football striker. He later became a manager and coached the

Algeria national football team The Algeria national football team ( ar, منتخب الجزائر لكرة القدم) represents Algeria in men's international football and is governed by the Algerian Football Federation. The team plays their home matches at the 5 July Sta ...

International career

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 The FLN football team (in ar, فريق جبهة التحرير الوطني لكرة القدم, in french: Équipe du FLN de football), also known as ''Le onze de l'indépendance'' ( en, The eleven of the Independence) was a team made ...

. This team was created from the

National Liberation Front (Algeria) The National Liberation Front ( ar, جبهة التحرير الوطني ''Jabhatu l-Taḥrīri l-Waṭanī''; french: Front de libération nationale, FLN) is a nationalist political party in Algeria. It was the principal nationalist movement du ...

. 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 left, 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.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first. "Score" column indicates the score after the player's goal.''

Honours

Player

Saint-Étienne *

French Division 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

: 1956–57, 1963–64, 1966–67, 1967–68 *

Coupe de France The Coupe de France, formerly known as the Coupe Charles Simon, is the premier knockout cup competition in French football organized by the French Football Federation (FFF). It was first held in 1917 and is open to all amateur and profession ...

1968 The year was highlighted by protests and other unrests that occurred worldwide. Events January–February * January 5 – " Prague Spring": Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia. * Janu ...

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

1957 1957 ( MCMLVII) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar, the 1957th year of the Common Era (CE) and ''Anno Domini'' (AD) designations, the 957th year of the 2nd millennium, the 57th year of the 20th century, and the 8th year ...

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 5 ** Spain and Romania sign an agreement in Paris, establishing full consular and ...

* Coupe Charles Drago: 1955,

1958 Events January * January 1 – The European Economic Community (EEC) comes into being. * January 3 – The West Indies Federation is formed. * January 4 ** Edmund Hillary's Commonwealth Trans-Antarctic Expedition completes the third ...

France military * Military World Cup: 1957 Individual * All-time AS Saint-Étienne top scorer: 192 goals

Manager

Algeria * Mediterranean Games gold medal:

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 - Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

* All-Africa Games gold medal: 1978 Individual * Lebanese Premier League Best Coach: 1996–97

References

External links

Profile
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Short bio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mekhloufi, Rachid 1936 births Living people French footballers France international footballers Algerian footballers Algeria international footballers Algerian expatriate footballers Dual internationalists (football) Association football midfielders Ligue 1 players AS Saint-Étienne players Servette FC players SC Bastia players French sportspeople of Algerian descent Algerian football managers SC Bastia managers Al-Riyadh SC managers 1982 FIFA World Cup managers Footballers from Sétif Algeria national football team managers Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Tunisia USM Sétif players Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Expatriate footballers in Switzerland Algerian expatriate sportspeople in France Expatriate footballers in France Algerian expatriate sportspeople in Saudi Arabia Expatriate football managers in Saudi Arabia FLN football team players Saudi Professional League managers