BBC SPORT | AFRICA | Madjer seeks new path for Algeria

Algeria coach Rabah Madjer has said that his country's players should not seek a European club football career until they are 25 years old.

In his opinion, moving to Europe before that age "stops their progression and endangers the future of Algerian football".

We cannot afford to lose more generations of players

Rabah Madjer

"I can understand why young players want to earn a living as professionals in Europe.

"But there have been terrible cases of kids leaving important Algerian league teams to play in mediocre French clubs," Madjer said.

Madjer, who played for Algeria at the 1982 World Cup, says the only way to stem the flight of young Algerian talent is to improve the wages and playing conditions in the Algerian league.

Rabah Madjer scored Algeria's winning goal in their 2-1 victory over Germany at World Cup '82
Madjer was a star player at Porto

"We cannot afford to lose more generations of players if we want our football to emerge from the ashes."

Algeria has not qualified for the World Cup since 1986 and only won the African Nations Cup on one occasion - in 1990, when they hosted the competition.


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