Algeria: What has become of Riyad Mahrez?

Africa 10 September 2025 at 11:53

Joshua SOSSOU

News Editor

The case of Riyad Mahrez is dividing Algerian football fans.

Once the iconic captain, Riyad Mahrez is no longer answering the call for Algeria. With 32 goals and 42 assists in 106 appearances, Mahrez holds a special place in Algerian football history. His legendary free-kick against Nigeria in the 2019 AFCON semi-final remains an unforgettable memory. Yet, this heroic image barely conceals a much darker reality.

Mahrez’s decline is first and foremost a statistical one. After netting 26 goals from 2014 to 2021, he has found the back of the net just once in his last 22 international outings. His assist tally has also plummeted, limited to just two—both against Mozambique (5-1) since November 2023. Since then, Mahrez hasn’t scored in a competitive match for four years, nor has he managed a single goal during the qualification campaigns for the 2022 and 2026 World Cups.

At the start of 2024 in Ivory Coast, his repeated promises—“in the next match, I will score”—resulted in more ghost-like performances. But despite his waning output, Mahrez still wields total influence over the squad. Both Djamel Belmadi and Vladimir Petkovic have maintained their trust in him, even if it meant sidelining numerous alternatives since the beginning of his prolonged slump with the Fennecs.

Mahrez’s captain status acts as a lock, no matter his form. This privileged position is not without its tensions. In a dressing room weakened by two failed AFCON campaigns and a glaring absence from the 2022 World Cup, Mahrez seems to impose an unshakeable hierarchy rather than rally the group around him.

With just over three months to go before AFCON and with the 2026 World Cup on the horizon, Algeria’s national team seems paralyzed by the symbolic debt owed to its 2019 heroes. As long as Mahrez remains untouchable, the Fennecs will continue forward with a captain lacking influence and a new generation kept in check.