The Algerian handball team will participate in the finals of the 27th edition of the African Nations Championship, scheduled from January 21 to 31 in Rwanda, with the aim of winning a qualification visa to the 2027 World Championship, scheduled for 2027 in Germany.
The national coach, Saleh Bouchkario (63 years old), will be at the head of the Algerian heptathlon’s technical staff for the fifth time in his career, after his previous participation in the 2000 editions (alongside Djilali Mekki), 2010, 2012 and 2016, as he does not hide his ambition to lead the national team to the next international date, which constitutes the main goal of the national squad.
Climbing the podium is a prerequisite for achieving this goal, especially after the distinguished performance in the 2024 edition, when the Algerian team reached the final and was defeated by its Egyptian counterpart, the defending champion three times in a row (2020, 2022 and 2024).
Since his appointment last September, the national team has intensified its preparatory camps inside and outside the country, the most recent of which was pre-competition training in Slovenia, which included several friendly matches against national teams and European clubs.
The preparations of the teammates of the veteran leader Masoud Barkos, who is preparing for his tenth participation in the African Cup of Nations (since his first appearance in the 2008 edition in Luanda-Angola), began last November, through several gatherings in the capital, which included players active in the national championship.
And it was Pushkryu In the first stage, he revealed an expanded list of 33 players, in anticipation of the final stage of preparations, with 17 players active in the national championship and 16 professionals abroad, representing 24 clubs from nine different championships.
The Algeria national team coach talks about the last camp
During the first camp, which took place in the Czech Republic (December 27 – January 2), the team played its first friendly match against the Czech national team, which ended in a draw (31-31), before continuing preparations with three other friendly matches against Kuwait (defeat: 25-32), Georgia (win: 32-30) and the Slovenian club Tremo Trebbing (win: 32-31).
Regarding his team’s performance during this camp, Bushkerio said: “We faced a strong team in the first friendly match against the Czechs, and we performed well and were able to win. Despite the draw, the players showed encouraging capabilities that satisfied me a lot.”
He added: “The long trip to Slovenia was exhausting, as it took us two days to arrive, which had a physical impact on the players, which explains the slight decline in level during the first days.”
Regarding the defeat against Kuwait, the national coach explained that the lack of effectiveness was the main reason, saying: “We missed approximately 29 offensive opportunities between missed balls and unsuccessful attempts, and it is difficult to achieve victory with such numbers.”
Despite this, Boucherio, who has extensive experience as a player during the golden era of Algerian handball in the 1980s (five consecutive titles), and as a coach for more than two decades, remains optimistic and confident in his squad’s chances of reaching the goal set in Kigali. He confirmed in previous statements to the official website of the Algerian Handball Federation: “The current roster combines experience, youth and vitality, with the aim of forming a competitive team capable of competing with the best African teams, defending the colors of Algeria, and achieving a better result than the second place achieved in the 2024 edition in Egypt.”
And about Collection Bushkerio explained that “the team will be with all its elements,” as the team is composed of key players such as Masoud Barkous, Hisham Daoud, Khalifa Ghadhban and Radwan Saker, along with Ayoub Abdi, Abdel Jalil Zanadi and Hisham Daoud, who participated in the 2024 edition, and will be supervised by promising young players such as Youssef Atak (21 years old), Mahdi Ahmed Anis (22 years old), and Abdel Rustom Qamaida (22 years old). One year) and Salim Mazaza (22 years old).
The Algerian national team is among the most prominent candidates for the African title
Within the first-round competitions, the Algerian national team is in the first group, along with Nigeria, Rwanda and Zambia, as it begins its campaign against Nigeria on January 21 (sa 12:00), then Rwanda on January 22 (sa 18:00), before concluding the first round against Zambia on January 24 (sa 12:00).
The second group includes the teams of Egypt, Angola, Gabon and Uganda, while the third group includes Tunisia, Guinea, Cameroon and Kenya, while the fourth group consists of Cape Verde, Morocco, Congo and Benin.
In the Rwanda tournament, the teams of Algeria, Egypt and Tunisia are the most prominent candidates to win the title, and they are the only three countries that have won the African Cup since the start of the competition in 1974, with 10 titles for Tunisia, 9 for Egypt and 7 for Algeria, which won its last title in the 2014 tournament in the Harsha Hassan Hall (Algeria).
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