Luca Zidane says he's "proud" to play for Algeria | OneFootball

The Franco-Algerian goalkeeper Luca Zidane, son of the legendary Zinedine Zidane, said this Wednesday (8th) that he is proud to wear the colors of Algeria, the country of his grandparents' origin. The athlete will defend the national team in the last two rounds of the African Qualifiers for the 2026 World Cup.

“I am very happy to be here. It is a source of pride for me and I will give 100% to make the Algerian people proud,” said Luca Zidane at a press conference in Oran, a city in western Algeria, where the local team will face Somalia on Thursday.

Algeria “is my country, my country of origin and that of my grandparents,” he added, in response to a question about the reasons that led him to choose the Algerian national team.

Luca Zidane, 27, who currently plays for Granada in the Spanish second division, changed his sporting nationality in mid-September and will now wear the Algerian colors, after playing for France at youth level. As he never played for the French senior national team, he remained eligible to play for Algeria.

“My whole family is proud of me and supports me in all my choices (…) my grandfather is happy that I am in Algeria and that I made this choice,” he said.

His father, Zinedine Zidane, “had his path, his career. I have my path, my career,” he explained. “The first objective is tomorrow, it’s Somalia and winning this match to secure qualification for the World Cup,” he added.

Leading Group G of the African Qualifiers with 19 points, ahead of Uganda and Mozambique, both with 15, the Algerian team needs a simple win over bottom-placed Somalia (1 point) this Thursday to secure a spot in next year’s World Cup.

Algeria will finish its participation in the competition against Uganda next Tuesday.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.