Luca Zidane, son of French World Cup icon Zinedine Zidane, has officially switched his international allegiance to Algeria, paving the way for him to represent the North African nation at the 2026 World Cup.
FIFA approved the 27-year-old goalkeeper’s change of association after his appearances for France at junior levels. Currently playing for Spanish second-division side Granada, his decision highlights Algeria’s determination to strengthen their goalkeeping department.
In the past year, Algeria have relied on four different goalkeepers — Alexis Guendouz of Mouloudia Alger, Oussama Benbot, Anthony Mandrea, and Alexandre Oukidja — but none have fully secured the position. Zidane’s inclusion could bring the stability they’ve been seeking.
A product of the Real Madrid academy, Luca is the second of four brothers who all came through the Spanish giants’ youth system. He made two senior appearances for Real Madrid, later playing in La Liga with Rayo Vallecano, before moving on to second-tier spells with Eibar and now Granada.
Though he represented France at several youth levels, including the under-20s, Zidane needed a formal change of allegiance to play for Algeria. His eligibility comes through his father’s heritage, as Zinedine Zidane’s parents hailed from the Kabylie region.
Algeria are strong contenders to qualify for the 2026 World Cup in North America, with a key qualifier against Somalia on the horizon.
Zinedine Zidane himself lifted the World Cup with France in 1998, cementing his place in football history. His career, however, ended in dramatic fashion with a red card in the 2006 World Cup final defeat to Italy.
Liverpool needed another late goal from Mohamed Salah to beat Burnley 1-0 in the Premier League on Sunday.
Hannibah Mejbri’s handball in added time gave Salah the chance to strike a late spot kick – to hand Burnley an undeserved defeat.
With the Premier League champions without Alexander Isak, who needs more training time to get back to full fitness, Arne Slot’s Premier League champions were heading to a wasteful draw.
They failed to score from 26 shots with around 80 per cent possession – until they were literally handed the win in stoppage time.
After Lesley Ugochukwu’s red card for two bookings, former Manchester United midfielder Hannibal raised his hands needlessly in the area to block a cross, leaving referee Michael Oliver no choice but to point to the spot.
Salah, who did not have a shot for the entire game, stepped up to emphatically crash the ball into the top corner
The all-time top scorer for the Nigerian Super Falcons is Perpetua Nkwocha, who scored 80 goals in 99 appearances.
Nkwocha's prolific career included winning the WAFCON Top Scorer title multiple times and being named CAF Women's Footballer of the Year four times…
➖ Perpetua Nkwocha – 80 goals
➖ Asisat Oshoala – 37 goals
➖ Desire Oparanozie – 22 goals
➖ Uchenna Kanu – 22 goals
➖ Stella Mbachu – 20 goals
➖ Cynthia Uwak - 18 goals
➖ Florence Omagbemi - 17 goals
➖ Kikelomo Ajayi - 16 goals
➖ Maureen Mmadu - 15 goals
( 📸 The 49th Street ) Mpforum
#WAFWOS #nigeria
#SuperFalcons #WAFCON2024
You’re 25 years old, at the peak of your career, with two options:
🔵 Stay at Chelsea, fight for Europe’s biggest trophies...
🔴 Go to China and earn a fortune...
What do you do? OSCAR 🗣️: "I don't care if I go to the World Cup or not, I'm only criticised for coming to China, I personally think of my family, and my future. I don't want to get poor when I am old and live on memories that I played in the World Cup."
Bukayo Saka will be OUT OF TOMORROW’S GAME, announces Mikel Arteta 🤕
He’s still injured. ❌🙅♂️
Toni Rüdiger suffered an injury to the anterior rectus of his left leg and will be now out for around 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐭𝐡𝐬! 🤕🆘
And also, Toni on his Instagram.
Rüdiger will try to be back by December, based on recovery evolution… get well soon, Toni! 🤜🏾🤛🏾
❤️🤍 Jackson: “I’ve been following Bayern ALL MY LIFE. It’s a FANTASTIC WORLD CLASS club”.
🚨 𝐁𝐑𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆: Cole Palmer RETURNS to team training after injury for two days in a row! 💙🔙
𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐃 𝐈𝐒 𝐁𝐀𝐂𝐊. 🥶❄️
🗣️ MARCO MATERAZZI: "I didn’t expect Zidane’s reaction at that moment. I was lucky that the whole episode caught me by surprise, because if I had expected something like that to happen and had been prepared for it, I’m sure we both would have ended up sent off.
There was a small contact between us in the box. He had scored France’s goal in the first half and our coach (Marcello Lippi) told me to mark him. After that first clash between us, I apologized, but he reacted badly.
The last tackles, altercations, and exchanges of bad words continued until the 110th minute, when things reached a breaking point. After the third clash, I frowned and he replied: ‘I’ll give you my jersey afterwards.’ I answered that I’d rather have his sister than his jersey."
