Algeria include son of Zidane in Africa Cup of Nation squad

 Goalkeeper Luca Zidane, a son of France football icon Zinedine Zidane, was named on Saturday in the Algeria squad for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON), which kicks off on December 21 in Morocco.

The 27-year-old plays for Spanish second-tier club Granada and represented France at youth level before switching his international allegiance to Algeria.

He debuted for Algeria in a World Cup qualifier against Uganda two months ago and is one of three goalkeepers chosen. The others are Oussama Benbot from USM Alger and Anthony Mandrea of Caen.

Speaking after his debut, Zidane said: "It is an honour for me, and I will give 100% to make the Algerian people proud."

"I'm sure the players will arrive highly motivated and ready to play in this AFCON," said Algeria coach and former Switzerland coach Vladimir Petkovic after announcing the squad.

"The main objective is to get past the first round... with the ambition to go as far as possible in the tournament."

Algeria start their Group E campaign against Sudan on December 24, then face Burkina Faso and Equatorial Guinea.

Group winners and runners-up automatically qualify for the round of 16. The best four of the six third-placed nations also advance to the knockout stage.

Senegal coach Pape Thiaw selected six Premier League players in his squad for the AFCON, where they face Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Benin in Group D.

They are defender El Hadji Diouf (West Ham), midfielders Idrissa Gueye (Everton), Pape Matar Sarr (Tottenham) and Habib Diarra (Sunderland) and forwards Iliman Ndiaye (Everton) and Ismaïla Sarr (Crystal Palace).

"We are among the favourites and we accept that. I want a dominant team," said Thiaw, who was in the Senegal squad that reached the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals.

Meanwhile, coach Vladimir Petkovic says he will not make promises while trying to resurrect the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) fortunes of Algeria after two disastrous campaigns.

The Desert Foxes won the premier football competition in the continent a second time in 2019 when a second-minute Baghdad Bounedjah goal delivered a 1-0 final victory over Senegal in Cairo.

It was a team teeming with stars, led by Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez, and the belief was that they would go on to claim more honours.

But those dreams were never realised. Instead, the Foxes were eliminated after the first round of the 2022 and 2024 AFCONs in Cameroon and the Ivory Coast.

Not only did they fail to reach the knockout stages, they were humiliated, unable to win a match in either tournament.

Algeria lost to Equatorial Guinea in Cameroon and to Mauritania, a team that had not won an AFCON match, in the Ivory Coast.

Coach Djamel Belmadi, mastermind behind the 2019 triumph, was jettisoned. In his place came Bosnia & Herzegovina-born Petkovic, who had spent seven years guiding Switzerland.

Algeria have won 15 matches under his control, drawn three and lost two. Those results led Algeria to qualify not only for the 2025 AFCON, but also the 2026 World Cup.

Petkovic admits Algeria, who will play all their Group E matches in Rabat, are favourites to win a mini-league including Sudan, Burkina Faso and Equatorial Guinea.

"We are favourites in our group, and we must accept that responsibility. Our first goal will be to qualify for the second round, then we shall see," he told the Algerian media.

Many pundits have listed Algeria among a short list of nations capable of going all the way in a tournament that kicks off on December 21 and reaches a climax on January 18.

But Petkovic casts aside talk of being crowned African champions a third time, saying "I never promise anything".

Agencies