Rachid Mekhloufi

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Rachid Mekhloufi (1974)

Rachid Mekhloufi , also spelled Mekloufi (born August 12, 1936 in Sétif / Algeria ), is a former French and Algerian football player and coach .

The club career

Rachid Mekhloufi came from Algeria at the beginning of the 1954/55 season, which at the time belonged to French colonial possessions and was administratively integrated into the French Republic (Algérie française) ; a compatriot had recommended him to those responsible for the first division club AS Saint-Étienne . His coach Jean Snella looked at the talented player in the trial training for less than half an hour and said: "Anyone who understands something about football recognizes Rachid's class from the first touch." A few days later, in a pre-season game, he led the players he did not know with his inspiration, technique and an eye for the situation and also scored three of the six goals. The playmaker, used as an outside runner or half-right striker , became French champions for the first time almost three years later with the Verts , and in 1956 he was called up for the first time in the French national team. He was also the second-best scorer in France's top division in 1956 and fifth in 1957 , although his team with Eugène Njo-Léa also had a very successful, real striker.

In the mid-1950s, the dispute over national independence in Algeria had developed so far that the independence movement Front de Liberation Nationale formed a kind of unofficial national team from Algerian footballers, which competed in numerous countries around the world to promote its political goals. In April 1958 Mekhloufi - u. a. alongside his colleagues from the Équipe Tricolore , Abdelaziz Ben Tifour and Mustapha Zitouni (both AS Monaco ) - for this FLN selection ; the French football association FFF reacted immediately and blocked all three kickers. From then on, his club also renounced Mekhloufi's services, who continued to play for Algeria in the following years, only briefly interrupted by an obligation at Servette Geneva , where coach Jean Snella had brought him.

The FLN team only disbanded after the Évian armistice agreement (March 1962) - and Rachid Mekhloufi was welcomed with open arms at his old club, although the presidium was not sure how the audience would react to the return of a man. who had been active against France for years. It was then like his trial training eight years earlier: with the first ball contact, he cast a spell over the audience at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard . He remained loyal to the Stéphanois in the second division (1962/63), and in the following five seasons he led them to three more championship titles: in the year of recovery in 1964, when coach Snella returned to ASSE, then in 1967 and 1968 under the Ex-national coach Batteux , who brought Mekhloufi to the Bleus in 1956 . In this last season, Saint-Étienne was also a cup winner and thus won his first doublé (championship and cup in the same season). Mekhloufi played a key role in this: in the final , the Girondins led Bordeaux 1-0 after just four minutes, before the Verts playmaker, who was a threat to the goal, equalized after half an hour and scored the winning goal a quarter of an hour before the end - with a penalty, which he even scored had to repeat. At a later reception for the Cup winners, French President Charles de Gaulle praised Mekhloufi with the words “You are France!”.

Stations

  • USM Sétif (until 1954)
  • AS Saint-Étienne (1954-1958)
  • Algerian FLN selection team (1958–1962, for a short time also Servette Geneva)
  • AS Saint-Étienne (1962–1968, of which 1962/63 in the D2)
  • SEC Bastia (1968–1970, as player-coach)

The national player

From October 1956 to December 1957 Rachid Mekhloufi played four international matches for the Equipe Tricolore and his place in the French squad for the 1958 World Cup seemed certain. In July 1957, he was also a World Champion with France . His position in favor of the political independence of his home country (see above) then prevented participation in the World Cup. Even after his return (1962) he never wore the Bleus jersey again  - despite his titles and although he was named the best field player in Division 1 three times in those years . For this he came from July 1963 to December 1968 in nine official games for the Algerian national team that was newly formed after independence . Among them were games against Brazil and the USSR as well as an encounter against Germany , which at the turn of the year 1963/64 played only its second (against Morocco ) and third game against African teams. Algeria defeated the DFB team - in one of the last matches under national coach Herberger  - on New Years Day 1964 2-0. The former France professionals Oudjani , Khennane (the two goal scorers), Zitouni and goalkeeper Boubekeur were also part of the winning team alongside Mekhloufi.

After his active time

In 1968 Mekhloufi received the offer to work as a player-coach at newly promoted SEC Bastia , and did so successfully (6th place in the first year). There he met René Ferrier , his long-time teammate from Saint-Étienne, again. From 1971 to 1972, 1975 to 1979 and again at the beginning of the 1980s, he was Algerian national coach and at the 1982 World Cup finals , he was one of the main victims of the “Gijón Non-Aggression Pact” between Germany and Austria . During the second half of the 1970s, he had brought with Amar Rouaï , a former midfield colleague from the FLN selection in his coaching staff. In 1988 Mekhloufi even acted briefly as president of the Algerian Football Association. He was also responsible for the African continental selection in 1972 at the "Mini World Cup" on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of Brazilian independence and in 1973 at a Latin American-African tournament in Mexico . At the beginning of the 21st century, Mekhloufi retired with his wife in La Marsa, Tunisia .

Stations

  • 1968 to 1970: SEC Bastia
  • 1971 to 1972: National coach of Algeria
  • 1975 to 1979: National coach of Algeria
  • Early 1980s: national coach of Algeria

documentation

Éric Cantona hosted a documentary film that was aired on Arte in 2012 under the name Rebels am Ball . This documentary also sheds light on the fate of Rachid Mekhloufi and his commitment to the independence of his country.

Palmarès

literature

Remarks

  1. ^ "La France, c'est vous!"  - David Goldblatt: The ball is round. A global history of football. Viking / Penguin, London 2006, ISBN 0-670-91480-0 , p. 504, who is wrong about the exact time: de Gaulle did not say this when the trophy was presented in the stadium, where he was not even present due to the May events in 1968 and was represented by the President of the National Assembly, but only later (see L'Équipe / Gérard Ejnès: Coupe de France. La folle épopée. L'Équipe, Issy-les-Moulineaux 2007 ISBN 978-2-915535-62- 4 , p. 318).
  2. ^ Jean-Philippe Rethacker / Jacques Thibert: La fabuleuse histoire du football. Minerva, Genève 1996, 2003 2 ISBN 978-2-8307-0661-1 , p. 275
  3. ↑ http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/mekhloufi-intl.html
  4. ↑ Dietrich Schulze-Marmeling (ed.): The history of the national soccer team. Die Werkstatt, Göttingen 2004 ISBN 3-89533-443-X , p. 183
  5. ↑ DFB (ed.): Passion for the ball. 100 years of German international matches 1908 to 2008. Medienfabrik, Gütersloh 2007 ISBN 978-3-577-14701-9 , p. 346
  6. ^ Paul Dietschy / David-Claude Kemo-Keimbou (co-editors: FIFA): Le football et l'Afrique. EPA, o. O. 2008 ISBN 978-2-85120-674-9 , pp. 134f.
  7. ↑ Parmentier, p. 63.
  8. ↑ Article on the documentation "Rebels on the Ball"
personal data
SURNAME Mekhloufi, Rachid
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Algerian-French soccer player
DATE OF BIRTH August 12, 1936
PLACE OF BIRTH Sétif , Algeria