At 40, goalkeeper Faouzi Chaouchi has not yet retired and he continues to make a name for himself with his escapades. Now at USM El Harrach, in the Algerian second division, the former goalkeeper of the Algerian football team was unable to control himself during a match last weekend in Batna. The images of Chaouchi in fury are creating a buzz on social networks.
All observers of Algerian football agree on the fact that Faouzi Chaouchi missed out on a very great career. Goalkeeper in particular for JS Kabylie, ES Sétif and MC Alger, he also kept the goals for the national team around fifteen times between 2008 and 2018.
It was he who was in the woods during the famous qualifying play-off for the 2010 World Cup against Egypt in Sudan, in November 2009. Through his performance, he contributed to Algeria’s victory (1-0 ), which earned him to be considered “the hero of Omdurman”.
But Faouzi Chaouchi lacked self-control throughout his career. In the locker room, on the field and off, his differences are numerous. The player did not hesitate to respond to provocations.
In 2018, while he was at MCA, he got into a fight with a steward at the Tizi-Ouzou stadium during a match against JSK. He would later explain that the stadium agent had insulted his mother.
Last weekend, he lost his temper again at the Batna stadium. Two versions circulate about the causes of his behavior.
The latest escapade of Faouzi Chaouchi, the former goalkeeper of the Algerian team
The USMH, second in the championship, had to win to avoid being left behind. But she lost (2-1) against the local team, MSP Batna.
A supporter allegedly started insulting Chaouchi’s mother. Pushed to the limit, he climbed the fence which separates the stands from the field, crossed the stands, and despite the attempt of a police officer to dissuade him, he scaled the surrounding wall of the stadium and continued indelicately to support him until ‘outside the stadium. In the images, we cannot see what happens next.
On a page of El Harrach supporters on social networks, the former goalkeeper of the Algerian team however denied this version. He claimed that he did this to “protect” his team’s supporters who were being attacked in the stands.
Whatever the reason which pushed him to act in this way, Chaouchi’s behavior remains reprehensible.
It must also be said that the phenomenon of insults in Algerian stadiums has become commonplace and some supporters have no limits. In 2023, coach Abdelhak Benchikha resigned from USM Alger because of these insults coming from the club’s supporters. However, he had just offered the club the first African title, the CAF Cup.
More recently, last October, Youcef Bouzidi left the Mouloudia d’Oran very deputy. Before his dismissal by management, he had been attacked by certain supporters who criticized him for the team’s mixed results. Two months later, on December 12, the technician died suddenly at his home in Algiers, at the age of 68.
The phenomenon of insults and obscenities must stop in Algerian stadiums and also in all public spaces. Last March, amendments were introduced into the Algerian Penal Code punishing perpetrators of obscenities uttered in public spaces.
