On 15 October 2014, Mahrez scored his first international goal, as well as setting up Islam Slimani in Algeria's 3–0, Africa Cup of Nations qualifier against Malawi. In December 2014 he was announced as a member of Algeria's squad for the final tournament in Equatorial Guinea for the first time. his first meeting was against South Africa where he participated in the 60 minutes before the change in the second throw against Ghana substitute in the last 20 minutes where the Algerian team were defeated by a single goal in their last game in the group stage against Senegal led Mahrez the national team to the quarter-finals, scoring the first goal of a match ending 2–0. then against Ivory Coast gave assists for El Arabi Hillel Soudani were not enough to exclude from the quarter-finals 3–1. then in the second Round of the 2018 World Cup qualifier against Tanzania helped Mahrez in the team qualified for the group stage where he scored a goal and assists for Carl Medjani.