Algeria–Egypt football rivalry

The Algeria–Egypt football rivalry is a football rivalry between the national football teams of Algeria and Egypt, having achieved nine Africa Cup of Nations and two Arab Cups between the two countries. The two nations have played 29 games against each other; Algeria leads in wins with 11 to Egypt's 6, with the two sides drawing 12 times.
After the independence of Algeria, the first official match took place on 5 July 1963, in a friendly match at the 20 August 1955 Stadium in Algiers. The two teams' matches in the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification remain a turning point in the history of the rivalry between the two countries. The two countries also have rivalries with Tunisia.
Egypt is the first African and Arab country to participate in a FIFA World Cup in 1934, it also participated in the 1990 and 2018 editions. Algeria, for its part, has participated four times in the biggest football event in the world: 1982, 1986, 2010 and 2014. The two countries have never qualified together for the World Cup.
The rivalry between the two countries could take root in the tour of the Algerian FLN football team in the Middle East in 1958. In solidarity with the Algerian cause, the countries of the Eastern bloc and the Arab countries defied the FIFA ban on playing with this clandestine team. However, the Egyptian authorities, anxious not to offend FIFA in a delicate context with the creation in 1957 of the Confederation of African Football in Cairo, refused to play exhibition matches. The generation of the FLN team remains marked by this episode. After the independence of Algeria, the two countries never met in the World Cup. Algeria participated in the 1982, 1986, 2010 and 2014 editions and Egypt in the 1934, 1990 and 2018 editions. However, the two nations met in the qualification of the 1990, 2002 and 2010; all three times in high-stakes matches with qualification for the winner.
For the 1990 FIFA World Cup qualification, Algeria finished first in Group A undefeated and Egypt finished first in Group B. A final round was organized between the four group winners to determine the two nations participating in the World Cup. On 8 October 1989, the Egyptian team drew 0–0 in Algeria in the first leg and then won 1–0 in Cairo on 17 November 1989. The nation therefore qualified for the competition along with Cameroon, the winner against Tunisia. Egypt's qualification was marred by clashes that began with a hostile reception upon the arrival of the Algerian delegation in Cairo and continued throughout its stay until its departure. But what made headlines was the accusation brought against the playmaker of the Algerian team at the time, Lakhdar Belloumi, accused of having seriously injured the eye of an Egyptian supporter present at the hotel hosting the Algerian team after the match, following a fight between the Algerian delegation and Egyptian supporters who came to the hotel. The Algerian authorities then accused Egypt of having set up the Algerian team and its star Belloumi, who was used as a scapegoat to distract from the hostile events that the Algerian team suffered during its stay in Egypt. Belloumi was convicted and prosecuted for many years by the Egyptian justice system, and pursued by Interpol until 2009 when he was cleared of this affair because he was innocent.
In 2001, Algeria, eliminated from the race for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification, played the last match of the qualifiers against Egypt in Annaba. In the first leg, the Egyptians crushed the Algerians 5–2 in Cairo. This historic victory put Egypt on the right track. It was celebrated by the Egyptians as the greatest success against the Maghreb rivals who at that time lost all chance of qualifying. The return match therefore promised to be decisive for the Pharaohs, in competition with Senegal. The Algerians, team and supporters, showed fierce determination to prevent the Pharaohs from qualifying. The score of 1-1 was celebrated in general jubilation. Incidents during the match and after were reported. Images of the bus being stoned were also shown on Egyptian television. In the other match played simultaneously in Windhoek, Senegal blew Namibia away 5–0. Senegal qualified.
During the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, the Algerian team bus was stoned by Egyptian supporters. The situation was tense because it was the last match of the qualifiers and each of the two teams had the possibility of qualifying. After Egypt's victory by 2–0, the two teams had to play a play-off match in Sudan, because they were perfectly equal (points, goal difference, goals for and goals against). Algeria won 1-0 and qualified for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. Two months later, the two teams met in the semi-finals of the 2010 Africa Cup of Nations.