The Algerian under-21 handball team is currently competing in the world championship in the discipline organized jointly by Germany and Greece.
The Algerian national team found itself in the limelight not thanks to its sporting performances but because of an incident which hit the headlines in Germany.
According to the German newspaper Bild, two Algerian players have left the national team’s reunion in Hanover for an unknown destination. Noureddine Fetaissa, 21, and Adlene Chaib, 19, fled in order to seek asylum in Germany, adds the same source.
The two players were absent in the third match of the first round against Germany on June 23, while they were in the group for the first two days against Tunisia and Libya.
Contacted by Bild, the national coach of the Algerian under-21 handball team, Abderrahmane Hadj Hamdri avoided going into details. “I am only responsible for the sport. I am not responsible for the rest”did he declare.
The information of the escape of the two Algerian athletes was confirmed by the president of the German handball federation Mark Schober. “The Algerian delegation told us and we informed the authorities”he said for Bild.
Radio silence on the side of the Algerian handball federation
The Algerian handball federation has not yet reacted to the information of the disappearance of two players from the national team who are taking part in the under-21 handball world championship.
On the official page of the federation, the news of the tournament is relayed normally without any mention being made of the incident linked to the two athletes.
So far, the FAHB has neither publicly confirmed nor denied the information of the disappearance of two of its players.
Contacted by TSA on Monday, former international goalkeeper Daoud Amirouche and former goalkeeper coach in the national team evokes a “serious organizational failure”.
“This is the result when you entrust the organization of a trip to people who have never traveled either as a player or as a member of the management. In principle, passports are withdrawn from players as soon as they pass through the border police on arrival at their destination.explains the former Algerian international.
In addition to the incident of the escape of the two athletes, Algeria’s results in the U21 World Handball Championship are disappointing. The national team was content with a victory against Libya in the first round and was returned to the losers’ tournament called the President’s Cup.
In this mini tournament which brings together the teams eliminated from the first round, Algeria has a victory against Libya, a draw against the United States and a defeat against Poland.
This is not the first time that such an incident has occurred when Algerian sports delegations travel abroad.
In May 2022, eleven athletes, including 5 boxers, 4 judokas, a wrestler and an athlete, participants in the Gymnasiades de Normandie for school sports fled as soon as they arrived in France. The Ministry of Youth and Sports had decided to suspend the president of the Algerian school sports federation Abdelhafid Izem the day after this scandal.
So far, the Ministry of Youth and Sports has not commented on the case of the two handball players who fled to Germany.
