24/1/2024–|Last updated: 1/24/202409:12 PM (Mecca time)
Algerian Football Federation President Walid Sadi announced the termination of the contract with first team coach Djamel Belmadi by mutual consent, hours after the “Greens” disastrous exit from the group stage of the African Cup after losing to Mauritania yesterday, Tuesday.
Sadi said in a tweet via his official account on the “X” platform that he met with Belmadi to talk “about the bitter exclusion,” and that they reached “an amicable agreement to dissolve the connection and break the contract,” thanking the Algerian coach.
I met with the national coach, Mr. Djamel Belmadi, to talk about the consequences of this bitter exclusion, and we reached an amicable agreement to dissolve the association and break the contract that links the coach with the Algerian Football Federation.
We thank coach Jamal Belmadi for everything he did for the team and we wish him good luck in the rest of his career.– Sadi Walid (@walidsadioffic) January 24, 2024
Algeria did not achieve any victory in the fourth group, which Angola topped with 7 points, and Burkina Faso came in second place with 4 points, followed by “surprise” Mauritania with 3 points, and finally Algeria with 2 points from two draws and a defeat.
Algeria exited the tournament in the group stage for the second time in a row after winning the continental title in 2019 under Belmadi’s leadership at the beginning of his term.
A goal for history! ⚽️
🇲🇷 Mauritania’s close-range goal against Algeria, which won the Almoravids their first victory in #Nations_of_Africa_2023 📹#TotalEnergiesAFCON2023 | @ffrim_AR pic.twitter.com/W4hJeWUCDT
— CAF – Arabic (@caf_online_AR) January 24, 2024
Belmadi pointed out – during the press conference that followed the defeat and the African exit – that he is “the second coach to lead Algeria to the African Cup,” but he acknowledged his responsibility by saying, “But the truth is that we exited from the first round for the second time in a row, and I bear responsibility.”
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Djamel Belmadi, coach of the Algerian national team, after leaving the tournament:
You say that I am the first Algerian coach to be eliminated from the group stage of the African Cup of Nations, but you must also say that I am the second coach to win the tournament for the national team 🇩🇿
— EPL World (@EPLworld) January 23, 2024
Belmadi began his mission as coach of Algeria in 2018, and quickly achieved an achievement that his country had missed for nearly three decades, by winning the African Cup, which was held in Egypt in 2019, but the achievements did not last long, as about a year later, disappointments followed, most notably the failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, and the failure to… The excuse to defend his title was to exit empty-handed from the first round of the African Cup.