Algeria head into the 2026 World Cup with a familiar name in charge and a new-look attack that could make them awkward opponents from the start. Vladimir Petkovic’s side are being talked about less as outsiders and more as a team that can make noise if Riyad Mahrez, Mohamed Amoura and Ibrahim Maza hit form.
That is why Algeria are drawing attention now. They have not played at a World Cup since 2014, when they reached the knockout rounds, and they arrive this time with a squad built around Mahrez, 35, the captain and one of the country’s most decorated players. He is second on Algeria’s all-time appearance list and goalscoring list, while Amoura, 26, scored 10 times in African qualifying and added his first international hat-trick last year against Mozambique. Maza, 20, gives Petkovic another option with his pace and movement, and the mix has made Algeria one of the more intriguing African teams in the build-up to the tournament.
Petkovic has given the team a clear shape as well as a clear message. The 62-year-old coach, who lost only two of his 13 major tournament matches with Switzerland inside 90 minutes, guided Algeria through qualifying with authority. They topped their group seven points clear of Uganda and Mozambique, won eight of their 10 matches and only failed to beat Guinea. That record matters because Algeria are not just arriving on reputation; they are arriving with results that suggest a side ready for the next step.
The concern is less about how Algeria attack than about what sits behind it. Their goalkeeping group has only 10 caps between three keepers, and Luca Zidane carries both promise and uncertainty after fracturing his jaw in April. He may need to wear a mask in games to protect his face, a reminder that the team’s most obvious weakness comes in a position where mistakes are often punished. Algeria have shown they can score and they can control qualifying, but at a World Cup that can be enough only if the margins at the other end hold up.
That is the question hanging over them as 2026 approaches. Algeria are two-time champions of Africa and still have the kind of attacking quality that can unsettle better-known teams, but they have not yet shown they can turn that into consistency on the world stage. Their next World Cup games are still months away, and by then Petkovic will know whether this group can be more than a lively opponent. If they get the balance right, Algeria could make the kind of return that reminds the tournament they were never meant to stay away for long.
