The Algerian Football Federation has pushed back to March 2027 the appointment of a second assistant demanded by Brahim Hemdani. The national team head coach will prepare the double header against Togo with Antar Yahia, his first assistant, as his only assistant.
Brahim Hemdani will have to do without. The Algeria head coach had formally requested the addition of a second assistant coach from the Algerian Football Federation (FAF). According to Afrik-Foot and Maghrebactu, the governing body officially announced this Thursday, 22 October 2026, that the appointment has been postponed to March 2027.
A shortlist of former internationals, including Nadir Belhadj and Karim Matmour, had nevertheless been submitted to the federation, according to Afrik-Foot and winwin. No appointment has been announced at this stage: the FAF is not closing the door, it is delaying the decision.
Calendar and contracts at issue
The reasons put forward by the federation are twofold. According to Maghrebactu, the FAF refuses to act in haste and points to scheduling constraints as well as the current contractual commitments of certain candidates.
The second assistant file is not closed, however. Karim Matmour, a former international with 30 caps, had been directly proposed by Antar Yahia himself, according to El Khabar and Afrik-Foot. Nadir Belhadj, another former international, was also among the options submitted to the federation. The postponement to March 2027 leaves these candidacies in limbo, with neither an appointment nor a definitive rejection.
Hemdani, an interim role turned into a mission
The calendar partly explains the FAF’s caution. The national team’s training camp for the 2027 AFCON qualifiers will begin on 9 November 2026, less than three weeks after the announcement of the postponement. Algeria will face Togo in a double header: on 14 November at the Hocine Aït Ahmed stadium in Tizi Ouzou, then on 17 November in Lomé, according to Afrik-Foot and Maghrebactu.
Hemdani took charge of the national team in an emergency after Vladimir Petkovic’s departure at the end of July 2026, report Foot Afrique and FootAlgérien. He must now make do with a staff cut to two people as he approaches this double header.
Algeria currently top their qualifying group for the 2027 AFCON, according to Maghrebactu.
Next up in November
For the November international window, Hemdani and Antar Yahia, the first assistant, will therefore lead the technical staff alone, according to DzBallon. It is as a duo that they will prepare the matches against Togo, the first of which will be played in Tizi Ouzou. The first assistant, who was already behind Matmour’s candidacy, thus finds himself as the head coach’s only assistant.
The question of the second assistant will return in March 2027, the date set by the FAF to decide. Until then, Hemdani and Yahia will lead the staff without reinforcement, and the double duel against Togo will be their next outing together.