The Algeria national football team represents Algeria in association football and is controlled by the Algerian Football Federation. The team plays its home games at the Stade 5 Juillet 1962 in Algiers and their head coach is the Belgian Georges Leekens . Algeria joined FIFA on 1 January 1964, a year and a half after gaining independence.

Here are five important facts about the Algerian national team ahead of the Afcon tournament in Gabon;

1. Algeria have qualified for four World Cups in 1982, 1986, 2010 and 2014. Algeria won the African Cup of Nations once in 1990, when they hosted the tournament.

2. At the 2014 World Cup, Algeria became the first African team to score four goals in a match at the World Cup against South Korea.

3. The traditional rivals of Algeria have been Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. However, more recently, Egypt has become the main rival after a number of incidents involving the two teams, most recently during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, in which Algeria defeated Egypt 1–0 in a tense tiebreaker in Omdurman in Sudan to qualify to the World Cup.

4. During the 1982 FIFA World Cup Algeria caused one of the great World Cup upsets on the first day of the tournament with a 2–1 victory over the reigning European champions, West Germany.

5. After winning the 1990 African Cup of Nations and barely missing out in qualifying to the 1990 FIFA World Cup, Algeria managed to qualify to the 1992 African Cup of Nations, the title holders were disappointing and were eliminated in the first round of the competition. In the 1994 African Cup of Nations Algeria was disqualified from the tournament after fielding an ineligible player.

Algeria will face Zimbabwe in their first game in the upcoming Afcon tournament. Algeria with their star-man Riyad Mahrez will be one of the key contenders for the Afcon 2017 trophy.