Coach: Ahcene Ait Abdeslam
Key Players: Ghedbane Khalifa (Goalkeeper), Hammad Merouane (Centre Back)
Road to Qualification: Runners-up – 2014 African Men’s Youth Handball Championship
History in Tournament: 2005: DNQ, 2007: 14th, 2009: 14th, 2011-2013: DNQ
Overview:
The 2015 IHF Men’s Youth World Championship will be Algeria’s third appearance at the competition. In both of their previous participations, the African side have finished 14th on the final ranking (2007, 2009) before failing to qualify for the last two editions in 2011 and 2013.
Algeria qualified for Russia 2015 with a second-place finish at the 2014 African Men’s Youth Handball Championship. Egypt are the dominant team in the region in this age category, having won five of the six African Men’s Youth Handball Championships, while Algeria only began to participate in the tournament in 2010.
In their first appearance at the African Championship in 2010 they finished 4th, behind Egypt, Tunisia and Gabon, before ranking seventh at the tournament in 2012. In 2014 they were second in the group phase, losing to Tunisia (21:26) and winning against Niger (33:21) before moving on to the final round where they defeated Angola 24:22 in the semi-final stage. They lost to Egypt 26:22 in the final.
At Russia 2015 Algeria will face title-holders Denmark, Switzerland, Russian Federation, Qatar and Croatia, with the meeting against the hosts their opening game.
Key players for Algeria include 206cm goalkeeper Ghedbane Khalifa, who has played 28 international matches, and right wing Abdi Ayoub, with 65 goals in 16 appearances for Algeria. Khalifa plays his club handball for GSP while Ayoub takes to the court for OS.
Group at Russia 2015:
Group C: Denmark, Switzerland, Russian Federation, Qatar, Algeria and Croatia
Games at Russia 2015:
All times local
Friday 7 August: RUS-ALG (19:00)
Sunday 9 August: ALG-DEN (20:00)
Tuesday 11 August: QAT-ALG (20:00)
Wednesday 12 August: SUI-ALG (18:00)
Friday 14 August: ALG-CRO (10:00)