Lakhdar Belloumi
Belloumi in 2017
Personal information
Date of birth (1958-12-29) 29 December 1958
Place of birth Mascara, Algeria
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Attacking midfielder
Youth career
1973–1974 OS Mascara
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1974–1976 OS Mascara
1976–1977 SKAF El-Khemis
1977–1978 GCB Mascara 26 (29)
1978–1979 MP Oran 25 (11)
1979–1981 MP Alger 30 (10)
1981–1987 GCR Mascara 60 (27)
1987–1988 Mouloudia d'Oran 56 (36)
1988 Al-Arabi SC 6 (5)
1989–1990 M. Oran / MC Oran 27 (12)
1990–1991 GC Mascara 4 (4)
1991–1992 USM Bel Abbès 40 (20)
1992–1993 GC Mascara 12 (7)
1993–1994 MC Oran 27 (6)
1994–1996 GC Mascara 38 (19)
1996 MC Oran 11 (2)
1997 GC Mascara 13 (3)
1997–1998 ASM Oran 17 (9)
1998–1999 GC Mascara 25 (4)
Total 417 (204)
International career
1974–1977 Algeria U17 – (–)
1977–1978 Algeria U20 4 (2)
1979–1980 Algeria military – (–)
1978–1989 Algeria 100 (28)
1989 Algeria futsal 3 (1)
Managerial career
2001–2002 MC Oran
2002–2003 USM Bel-Abbès
2003 Al Tadamun SC
2004–2005 Algeria
2005–2006 GC Mascara
2011 Algeria (beach soccer)
2015 Algeria (beach soccer)
Medal record
Player
MC Oran
Third placeAlgerian Championship1979
WinnerAlgerian Championship1988
Runner-upAfrican Cup1989
Runner-upAlgerian Championship1990
GC Mascara
WinnerAlgerian Championship1984
 Algeria
Third placeMediterranean Games1979
Runner-upAfrican Cup of Nations1980
Third placeAfrican Cup of Nations1984
Third placeAfrican Cup of Nations1988
Manager
MC Oran
Runner-upArab Cup2001
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Lakhdar Belloumi (Arabic: لخضر بلومي; born on 29 December 1958) is an Algerian former football player and manager. A former attacking midfielder, he is widely considered as the best Algerian player of all time and one of the best players in Africa.[1][2] He is said to have invented the "Blind Pass".[3] He was named the fourth-best African player of the century by IFFHS.[4] He holds the record as the most capped Algerian player with 100 national caps[5] (147 caps not recognized by FIFA)[6] and is also the third best goalscorer of the Algerian national team in all time with 28 goals[7] (34 goals not recognized by FIFA).[8]

Belloumi's goal against reigning European champions West Germany earned Algeria a stunning 2–1 victory in their World Cup debut in Spain '82.[9]

Club career

Lakhdar Belloumi, Algerian champion with GC Mascara 1984

Belloumi spent almost his entire career at home (apart from a brief spell in Qatar late in his career), most notably with his hometown club GC Mascara, as well as MC Oran. He played also with MC Alger for two years during his military service in Algiers. He won two domestic championships during his career in 1984 with GC Mascara and in 1988 with MC Oran. After returning for another spell in Mascara in 1994, he continued playing until retirement in 1999.

Belloumi had contact with various European clubs, including Barcelona, before Spain '82, but "the law did not allow us to leave the country before the age of 27". In 1985, he caught the eye of Juventus after shining in a friendly against them, only to miss out on a dream transfer after breaking his leg in the African Champions' Cup in Libya against Al-Ittihad. He was understandably disappointed "It was a real shame for me that I couldn't go".[9]

Often overlooked for international recognition due to not joining a major European club, despite the interest of major European clubs (Juventus were reportedly very keen to acquire his services despite the performances of Michel Platini). Belloumi was recognised by any who watched him play, including the great Pelé, as a fantastic player.

International career

Belloumi has a total of 147 caps and 34 goals for Algeria national team but only 100 caps and 28 goals are recognized by FIFA.[6][8] He participated at 1980 Summer Olympics, at two editions of FIFA World Cup (1982 and 1986), at four editions of Africa Cup of Nations (1980, 1982, 1984 and 1988) and at two editions of Mediterranean Games (1979 and 1983). In 1981, he was awarded African Footballer of the Year. Belloumi scored the winning goal in the 2–1 win over West Germany in the 1982 World Cup, and was a pivotal player in the Algerian national team throughout the 1980s. His last game for Algeria came in 1989.

Controversy

Belloumi was a subject of an arrest warrant in Egypt for almost 20 years following an incident in Cairo in 1989 when after a 1990 FIFA World Cup qualifying match a brawl erupted to the hostel residence of the Algeria team, between players of the Algerian squad and Egyptian supporters that left an Egyptian fan, doctor by profession, seriously injured in his eye by a broken bottle which was attributed to be thrown by Belloumi. From 2006, he was added among the lists of the accused in Interpol.

The Algerian authorities accused Egypt of wanting deliberately to accuse Belloumi who was the biggest star of the country, to make diversion against hostile events that Algeria team has suffered during the qualifying match in Cairo. Belloumi always claimed his innocence and teammates present at the incident had also testified before the Algerian justice that it was goalkeeper Kamel Kadri responsible for inflicting the injury.

The warrant was finally rescinded in April 2009 and Belloumi was cleared of all legal proceedings at the initiative of Algerian president Abdelaziz Bouteflika in collaboration of the Algerian and Egyptian authorities.[10][11][12]

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup[lower-alpha 1] League cup[lower-alpha 2] Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
OS Mascara 1974–75 Division H ––
1975–76 ––
SKAF El-Khemis 1976–77 Algerian Division 2 ––
GCB Mascara 1977–78 Algerian Division 2 ––
MP Oran 1978–79 Algerian Division 1 2511––
MP Alger 1979–80 Algerian Division 1 10400–4!159
1980–81 9320–1!123
GCR Mascara 1981–82 Algerian Division 1 31––
1982–83 153––
1983–84 ?1––
1984–85 ?1–20
1985–86 ?0––
1986–87 30811––309
Mouloudia d'Oran 1987–88 Algerian Division 1 3042––35
Al-Arabi 1988 Qatar Stars League 22––
Mouloudia d'Oran 1988–89 Algerian Division 1 ?2–20
MC Oran 1989–90 Algerian Division 1 ?6––617
GC Mascara 1990–91 Algerian Division 2 ––
USM Bel-Abbès 1991–92 Algerian Division 1 ?1
GC Mascara 1992–93 Algerian Division 2 –––
MC Oran 1993–94 Algerian Division 1 ?1–45
GC Mascara 1994–95 Algerian Division 1 ––
1995–96 Algerian Division 2 ––
MC Oran 1996 Algerian Division 1 11200–– 112
GC Mascara 1997 Algerian Division 2 133?1––4
ASM Oran 1997–98 Algerian Division 2 179–
GC Mascara 1998–99 Algerian Division 1 255?0––5
Career total

International

Lakhdar Belloumi scored 28 goals in 100 capes with the national team. He scored too six more goals with 47 more caps that are not recognized by FIFA because matches played and goals scored against clubs or against not a full national teams. He scored against Bałtyk Gdynia in 1979,[13] Stade Brestois and Olympique Lyonnais in 1982,[14] Racing Paris in 1983,[15] FC Carl Zeiss Jena in 1984[16] and Videoton FC in 1987.[17]

Appearances and goals by national team and year[18]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Algeria 197841
1979115
1980114
198196
1982102
1983102
1984103
198531
198661
1987101
198872
198990
Total10028
Scores and results list Algeria's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Belloumi goal.
List of international goals scored by Lakhdar Belloumi[19]
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
117 October 1978Stade du 17 Juin, Constantine, Algeria Congo1–03–0Friendly
25 April 1979Stade du 5 Juillet, Algiers, Algeria Mali1–01–01980 Summer Olympics qualification
324 June 1979Stade du 5 Juillet, Algiers, Algeria Libya1–03–11980 African Cup of Nations qualification
427 September 1979Stadion Rade Končar, Šibenik, Yugoslavia Yugoslavia1–02–31979 Mediterranean Games
529 September 1979Stadion Poljud, Split, Yugoslavia Greece1–02–11979 Mediterranean Games
621 December 1979Stade du 5 Juillet, Algiers, Algeria Morocco1–03–01980 Summer Olympics qualification
713 Marsh 1980Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Nigeria Morocco1–01–01980 African Cup of Nations
816 Marsh 1980Liberty Stadium, Ibadan, Nigeria Guinea2–03–21980 African Cup of Nations
920 July 1980Dinamo Stadium, Minsk, Soviet Union Syria1–03–01980 Summer Olympics
1024 July 1980Dinamo Stadium, Minsk, Soviet Union Spain1–11–11980 Summer Olympics
111 May 1981Stade du 17 Juin, Constantine, Algeria Niger2–04–01982 FIFA World Cup qualification
124–0
1330 August 1981Stade du 19 Juin, Oran, Algeria Upper Volta3–07–01982 African Cup of Nations qualification
144–0
1510 October 1981Surulere Stadium, Lagos, Nigeria Nigeria1–02–01982 FIFA World Cup qualification
1630 October 1981Stade du 17 Juin, Constantine, Algeria Nigeria1–02–11982 FIFA World Cup qualification
1711 February 1982El Molinón, Gijón, SpainSpain Spain Ol.1–02–0Friendly
1816 June 1982El Molinón, Gijón, Spain West Germany2–12–11982 FIFA World Cup
1911 September 1983Stade El Abdi, El Jadida Tunisia1–22–31983 Mediterranean Games
2028 October 1983Stade du 5 Juillet, Algiers, Algeria Libya1–02–01984 Summer Olympics qualification
215 Marsh 1984Stade Bouaké, Bouaké, Ivory Coast Malawi2–03–01984 African Cup of Nations
2217 Marsh 1984Stade Félix Houphouët-Boigny, Abidjan, Ivory Coast Egypt2–03–11984 African Cup of Nations
2310 October 1984Otto-Grotewohl-Stadion, Aue, East Germany East Germany1–42–5Friendly
248 Marsh 1985Stade du 5 Juillet, Algiers, Algeria Mauritania1–04–01986 African Cup of Nations qualification
2514 December 1986Stade du 5 Juillet, Algiers, Algeria Ivory Coast1–02–1Friendly
2611 January 1987Stade El Menzah, Tunis, Tunisia Tunisia1–02–01987 All-Africa Games qualification
2713 Marsh 1988Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca, Morocco Ivory Coast1–01–11988 African Cup of Nations
2826 Marsh 1988Stade Mohamed V, Casablanca, Morocco Morocco1–14–31988 African Cup of Nations

Honours

Player

GC Mascara
MC Oran

Algeria

Individual

Awards
Performances

Personal

Belloumi is the father of footballer Bachir Belloumi.

Further reading

  • Grine, Hamid. (1986) Lakhdar Belloumi, un footballeur algérien, Algiers, Entreprise Nationale du Livre (Enal).

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Lakhdar Belloumi: The Wizard of Maghreb". A Halftime Report. Alfiepottsharmer. 24 May 2015.
  2. ↑ "Golden Goal: Lakhdar Belloumi for Algeria v West Germany (1982)". The Guardian. Simon Burnton. 22 September 2020.
  3. ↑ "Les chroniques de Laurent Lasne – "letierslivre.com"" (in French). Letierslivre.com. Archived from the original on 31 March 2012. Retrieved 22 August 2011.
  4. ↑ Ingo Faulhaber. "Africa's best Player of the Century – IFFHS". Iffhs.de.
  5. ↑ Lakhdar Belloumi - Century of International Appearances
  6. 1 2 "Football - Lakhdar Belloumi". Le Soir d'Algérie. H. B. 11 April 2011.
  7. ↑ Goalscoring for Algeria National Team
  8. 1 2 "Top 10 - Les légendes de l'Algérie". TF1. Rédaction. 15 January 2013.
  9. 1 2 Hart, Simon (13 June 2010). "Algeria struggle to match the fame of Belloumi and the shame of Spain '82 – International – Football". The Independent.
  10. ↑ "Belloumi to Echorouk: "Goalkeeper Kadri was responsible for eye injury suffered by Egyptian doctor in 1989"". Echoroukonline.com. 3 September 2012.
  11. ↑ "Interpol hands over Belloumi a document rescinding international arrest warrant issued against him". Echoroukonline.com. 3 September 2012.
  12. ↑ "Belloumi called for the first time to the victim". Lebuteur.com. Archived from the original on 6 February 2010. Retrieved 9 April 2012.
  13. ↑ "Liste des matchs de l'équipe d'Algérie de football 1979". dzfootball (in French).
  14. ↑ "Liste des matchs de l'équipe d'Algérie de football 1982". dzfootball (in French).
  15. ↑ "Liste des matchs de l'équipe d'Algérie de football 1983". dzfootball (in French).
  16. ↑ "Liste des matchs de l'équipe d'Algérie de football 1984". dzfootball (in French).
  17. ↑ "Liste des matchs de l'équipe d'Algérie de football 1987". dzfootball (in French).
  18. ↑ Lakhdar Belloumi at National-Football-Teams.com
  19. ↑ "Lakhdar Belloumi - Century of International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 25 May 2018.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.