Rachid Mekhloufi

In April 1958 ten Algerian professional footballers based in France fled the country during the middle of the Algerian War to play for the newly established FLN football team. The team was created from the Algerian independence movement of the National Liberation Front, with Rachid Mekhloufi being one of the ten who joined the team. Mekhloufi was a talented striker who began his football career in France with Saint-Étienne in 1954. Before joining the FLN team he had played more than 100 matches for Saint-Étienne, scoring 59 goals, in addition to making four appearances for the French national football team. In the four years that he represented FLN he played in 40 international matches before Algeria gained independence from France in July 1962.

Mekhloufi then played one season with the Swiss club Servette before returning to France to play for Saint-Étienne. His second stint with the club saw him play in 192 matches and score 78 goals, before finishing his domestic career with SC Bastia in 1970. From 1963 to 1969 he also played ten matches for the Algerian national team, scoring five goals. During his career he won the French Division 1 title on four occasions with Saint-Étienne (1957, 1964, 1967, 1968) and became the team’s leading goal scorer with 192 goals.

Following his playing career Mekhloufi turned to management, initially taking charge of SC Bastia before leading the Algerian team for two spells during the 1970s. Under his leadership the team won gold at the 1975 Mediterranean Games and at the 1978 All-Africa Games. Mekhloufi was awarded with the Olympic Order in Silver in 1991.