Just a couple months before making their exhilarating return to the FIFA World Cup™, Algeria was celebrating and cultivating its footballing future with the help of FIFA President Gianni Infantino.

Joined in Tlemcen, Algeria, by Algerian Football Association (FAF) President Walid Sadi and other dignitaries, Mr Infantino inaugurated two new facilities constructed with FIFA support. The state-of-the-art Tlemcen Regional Technical Centre was made possible by USD 4.25 million in funding from the FIFA Forward Programme, and a new FIFA Arena mini-pitch west of downtown Tlemcen –which will be accessible to area youth –became the country’s first such installation outside the capital of Algiers.

Algeria is “a country that’s been investing … in its youth and believes in them,” Mr Infantino told an audience at the Tlemcen Regional Technical Centre.

“It is a country with a very young average age, but that does something for its young people. And this technical centre, as well as the FIFA Arena – this beautiful mini-pitch that we inaugurated earlier today at this secondary school in Tlemcen – these are symbols of this country’s future,” he continued. “This regional technical centre is a technical centre that we built together, that we designed together. FIFA is here to help, to assist – to help make dreams become a reality.”

Mr Infantino and Mr Sadi were accompanied on their tour of northwestern Algeria’s second-largest city by FIFA Chief of Global Football Development Arsène Wenger, FIFA Deputy Chief Member Associations Gelson Fernandes and Algeria national team coach Vladimir Petković. Earlier that day, Mr Infantino met with Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune, who the FIFA President described as a “a genuine football fan, by the way, as a former footballer on the pitch, but still a footballer at heart”.

Simultaneously, Algeria also launched its FIFA Football for Schools (F4S) chapter in Tlemcen, during what will be remembered as a milestone week for national football development.

The Tlemcen Regional Technical Centre is part of a network of training complexes that support the FAF’s National Technical Centre in Sidi Moussa, outside Algiers. The Tlemcen facility features a primary pitch with hybrid turf and two additional pitches (one natural and one artificial), as well as two smaller pitches, a futsal court, a swimming pool, gym, and other training and treatment resources. There are also accommodation and administrative spaces. The facility already has been used by Algeria’s U-20 national team, who trained there in January 2026, and the U-16 team, who spent eight days there last month.

“I truly feel at home here today,” the FIFA President added. “I feel at home because we can see this centre, we live this centre, and it truly feels like a centre where the heart of football beats. That’s exactly what FIFA wants to do, in collaboration with the (Algerian Football) Association and the (Algerian) government.”

Mr Sadi said the Tlemcen Regional Technical Centre “embodies a practical pathway towards the development of football. It also expresses a clear will to build a modern football environment. Additionally, it represents the strong partnership between the Algerian Football Association and FIFA”.

While the FAF’s training centres cater to more experienced players, FIFA is also investing in Algerian football’s grassroots. The Tlemcen mini-pitch, located at the CEM Inal Ahmed (a middle school), is Algeria’s third FIFA Arena installation. Algeria became the first African FIFA Member Association to open a mini-pitch back in May 2025. Overall, the FIFA Arena project aims to build at least 1,000 mini-pitches across the globe by 2031. The two Algiers mini-pitches already have benefitted more than 1,500 young players.

“We want academies. We want centres. We want spaces in schools where young girls and boys can play. But we also want the talent to be able to express themselves, train, and develop in the best possible conditions,” Mr Infantino said of FIFA’s holistic approach to infrastructure and development.

FIFA’s investment in expanding playing opportunities for Algeria’s youth goes beyond FIFA Arena and includes the F4S programme, where the FAF is partnering with Algeria’s Ministry of Education and Ministry of Sports to implement the F4S initiative, which eventually will reach around 1,185 schools across the country.

Algeria’s robust commitment to F4S began with a two-day training workshop at the Tlemcen Regional Technical Centre. There, FIFA instructors worked with participants on implementing the innovative programme, which uses football-themed lessons, games and exercises to promote physical activity, life skills development, teamwork and inclusive participation among students. A F4S festival coincided with the technical centre’s inauguration, as well as Mr Infantino’s visit.

“I take this opportunity to congratulate Mr Gianni Infantino on the occasion of ten years of his inspiring leadership of FIFA – a decade during which radical reforms in the governance of the game were implemented and global standards of transparency and compliance were established, thereby strengthening confidence in the global football management system,” Mr Sadi said, referencing the milestone the FIFA President reached in February.

“This phase has established a new vision for football based on moving from a day-to-day management approach to strategic planning, and from a sporting activity to an effective tool for development, education, integration and unity,” the FAF President added.

The impressive array of activities and investment comes at an auspicious time for Algerian football. Anticipation is high for the upcoming FIFA World Cup 2026™, for which the Fennecs qualified with an impressive run of eight wins in 10 matches. It will be Algeria’s first trip to the finals since reaching the round of 16 at the FIFA World Cup 2014™ in Brazil. They will face holders Argentina, Jordan, then Austria in the United States.

Algeria’s current rank of 28th in the FIFA/Coca-Cola Men’s World Ranking is their highest in a decade. Five years ago, they won the inaugural FIFA Arab Cup™ in Qatar, defeating Tunisia in extra time of a dramatic final. They will be looking to make history once again in North America.

“Algeria won this tournament – a very prestigious tournament – which inspired a whole nation and ensured the Algerian people will remain loyal to their football, to their national team, and to their association and their country,” the FIFA President said of Algeria’s triumph in Qatar in 2021.

“So, it is in this spirit that we congratulate you again for your qualification for the (FIFA) World Cup. I am delighted I will be able to come and watch some of your team’s matches, because I know they are going to be great games where we will witness some great football.”