Abdelhamid Kermali

Abdelhamid Kermali was a brilliant striker who played professionally in France with Cannes, Mulhouse, and Olympique Lyonnais. In April 1958, he made the perilous clandestine sacrifice of abandoning his lucrative European football career to join the historic FLN Football Team in Tunis, touring worldwide as football ambassadors for the revolution.

Following independence, Kermali became a master tactician, managing ES Sétif to national and continental championships. In March 1990, as head coach of the Algerian national team ('The Fennecs'), he orchestrated Algeria's glorious first Africa Cup of Nations championship triumph in Algiers.