The former Algerian national team coach and one of the contributors to the Algerian national team’s remarkable appearance in the 1982 World Cup in Spain, Mohieddine Khalaf, died in Algeria at the age of 80, as the Algerian Football Federation announced on Tuesday.
Mohieddine Khalef, born on January 17, 1944 in Morocco, was the assistant coach of the Algerian national team in his first participation in the 1982 World Cup, where he defeated West Germany (2-1) and Chile (3-2) and almost qualified for the second round had it not been for the German “conspiracy”. And the Austrian team to eliminate it (the two teams agreed that West Germany beat Austria 1-0 and qualified together on goal difference over Algeria).
As a first coach, he led Algeria between 1979 and 1984 and reached the final of the African Cup of Nations in 1980, which it lost to the host country, Nigeria. He also had a good participation in the Olympic Games in Moscow in the same year by reaching the quarter-finals.
The name Mohieddine Khalaf became prominent, especially in the JS Kabylie club, with which he started as a player and then a coach. He achieved eight championships between 1977 and 1990 in the Algerian league, a record that has not been equaled until now.
He also won with the Canaries the African Champion Clubs Championship (currently the Champions League) in 1981, the African Cup Winners’ Clubs Cup, and the Algeria Cup.
He coached Al Ain of the Emirates in the 1990-1991 season, Ittihad Tangier (1991-1993), Mouloudia Oujda (1993-1997) of Morocco, and Etoile du Sahel of Tunisia (2000).
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