CS Sfaxien loses to Nigeria's Shooting Stars, and Algeria appoints Hamdani as coach of the national team

Tunisia's CS Sfaxien lost 1-0 to its Nigerian host Shooting Stars in the first leg of the first preliminary round of the African Confederation Cup, on Saturday.

The only goal of the match came in the 25th minute from Lucky Emmanuel, after the hosts imposed their advantage from the first minutes and posed a constant threat to the Tunisian team's goal.

Sfaxien tried to remedy the situation in the second half, and pressed in search of the equalizer, but the Shooting Stars defense withstood their attempts, and the match ended with the victory of the Nigerian team.

The match was held at the MK Abiola Stadium in the city of Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria, and not in the city of Ibadan, where Shooting Stars belongs, as its usual stadium, “Lekan Salami”, did not meet the “CAF” standards.

With this result, the Tunisian team finds itself required to win by at least two goals in the return match, which will be held at home next week. To ensure qualification for the second preliminary round of the competition.

On Saturday, the Algerian Football Federation appointed former French Marseille midfielder Ibrahim Hamdani as coach of the national team, succeeding Swiss Vladimir Petkovic, state television reported.

Hamdani (48 years old and 4 international matches as a player) takes over the task, despite his limited experience in training, after he led the Algerian under-21 team to win the gold medal in the Mediterranean Games, in Taranto, Italy, last week.

The Algerian Federation had terminated Petkovic's duties in early August, despite extending his contract, which was scheduled to keep him at the head of the technical staff until 2028.

Under the leadership of the Swiss coach, Algeria qualified for the World Cup knockout rounds for only the second time in its history, equaling its achievement in 2014, benefiting in part from the expansion of the tournament to 48 teams. But her journey ended in the round of 32, with her loss to Switzerland 0-2.

Algeria also failed in the African Cup of Nations in January; The competition was eliminated from the quarter-finals after losing to Nigeria 0-2.

The former defensive midfielder played for Cannes, Strasbourg and Marseille in the French League, before ending his career as a player with Scottish Rangers in 2010.

Former Algeria national team captain Antar Yahya was appointed as Hamdani's assistant, and former national team captain Musa Saib was appointed team manager.

Hamdani leads the national team to participate in the 2027 African Cup of Nations qualifiers, in the first match against Zambia at Tizi Ouzou Stadium on September 25.

After retiring from playing, Hamdani gradually moved into the world of coaching. He began his experience as an assistant coach with the French club Cote Bleu, before he took over coaching Courbevoie, then Marignan, who supervised him for three seasons, between 2022 and 2025, and led him to the third division.

Last July, Hamdani was appointed coach of the national team for the under-20 category, thus beginning his first direct experience within the Algerian Federation system.

At the Mediterranean Games in Taranto, he led the young team to a successful journey that ended with the gold medal, returning Algerian football to the Mediterranean podium after 51 years of waiting.