Algeria head coach Brahim Hemdani has named a 26-man squad to face Togo on 14 and 17 November. Mohamed Azzi (CSKA Moscow) and Abderrahmane Rebbach (Deportivo Alavés) are called up for the first time.
Algeria head coach Brahim Hemdani has selected 26 players for the double-header against Togo on 14 and 17 November, in matchdays 3 and 4 of Group I of the 2027 AFCON qualifiers, according to Le Matin d’Algérie and Radio Algérie. The announcement comes just days before the two games, which Algeria go into top of the group.
Two newcomers are in the squad: defender Mohamed Azzi (CSKA Moscow) and midfielder Abderrahmane Rebbach (Deportivo Alavés), who are called up for the first time, according to Le Matin d’Algérie. By contrast, Rayan Aït-Nouri (Manchester City), Ilan Kebbal (Paris FC) and Adam Zorgane (Union Saint-Gilloise) have not been called up, according to the same sources.
A squad without Aït-Nouri or Kebbal
Among the 26 selected are Himad Abdelli (OM), Ramy Bensebaïni (Borussia Dortmund), Amine Gouiri, Hicham Boudaoui and Amine Amoura (OGC Nice), Radio Algérie reports. The core of the squad remains recognisable despite the absences of Aït-Nouri, Kebbal and Zorgane.
The details reported by the Algerian press do not give the reasons for the absence of these three players, who simply find themselves not called up.
For Azzi and Rebbach, it is a first with the senior team. A defender for one, a midfielder for the other, they join the squad for two games in four days.
Four points from six in September
Algeria go into this window top of Group I with 4 points, ahead of Zambia and Togo (3 points each) and Burundi (1 point), according to Radio Algérie. In September, the Algerians beat Zambia 3-1 before being held to a 2-2 draw in Burundi.
Togo, coached by Patrice Neveu, beat Burundi 1-0 in Lomé before losing 2-0 in Ndola to Zambia. The two teams trail the leaders by just one point going into this double-header.
Hemdani is clear about his ambition: “In the first camp we saw that every team was difficult to play. We took four points from six and our ambition is to take the maximum number of points from this second round of matches,” he told Le Quotidien d’Oran.
Tizi Ouzou then Lomé in four days
The schedule is tight. Algeria host Togo on Saturday 14 November at 20:00 at the Stade Hocine Aït-Ahmed in Tizi Ouzou, before the return match on Tuesday 17 November at 17:00 at the Stade de Kégué in Lomé, Le Quotidien d’Oran reports. Two games in four days, a pace the head coach admits is demanding.
“It is not easy to play matches so close together, but our opponent will face the same difficulty,” Hemdani added in the Oran daily.
The top two in each group qualify for the 2027 AFCON finals, to be held in Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda from 19 June to 17 July 2027, Radio Algérie recalls.