Global Foxes: Riyad Mahrez

The Player: Riyad Mahrez 

Arguably the most famous Global Fox of them all is ‘Desert Fox’ Riyad Mahrez. A youth player with AAS Sarcelles, Riyad turned professional with Fourth Division French side Quimper in 2009. 

In 2010, he moved to Le Havre, initially playing in their reserve side before making 60 appearances in their first team in France’s second tier. 

In January 2014 Riyad moved to Leicester City, then in the Championship, for £400,000. Since then, he has been involved in winning the Championship title in 2014, taken part in the ‘Great Escape’ to ensure Premier League survival last season and has been central to this season’s fantastic achievement of winning the Premier League title. 

Whilst at Leicester, Riyad, who could have played for France or Morocco, has become an Algerian international, winning 24 caps to date. 

He participated in the 2014 World Cup finals in Brazil and in the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, playing every game in that tournament before the ‘Desert Foxes’ were eliminated in the quarter-finals. 

He is currently Algeria’s Player of the Year. Other accolades followed. Having been shortlisted along with Leicester City team-mates Jamie Vardy and N’Golo Kanté, Riyad was named this season’s PFA Players’ Player of the Year, making him the first African to win this award. 

In addition, Riyad was also included in the Premier League PFA Team of the Year, along with Wes Morgan, N’Golo Kanté and Jamie Vardy. 

The Country: Algeria 

After gaining independence from France in 1962, Algeria joined FIFA in 1964. They first came to prominence in the 1980s. They were Africa Cup of Nations finalists in 1980. 

They qualified for the World Cup finals of 1982 (when they were controversially knocked out at the group stage following a game between West Germany and Austria; the result of which ensured that both European sides went through) and 1986 (when once again they did not get beyond the group stage). 

In 1990, as host nation and in front of a crowd of 105,000, they beat Nigeria in the final of the Africa Cup of Nations. Political unrest in Algeria during the 1990s had a detrimental effect on that nation’s football. 

Their performances in the Africa Cup of Nations were disappointing and they failed to qualify for any World Cup finals until 2010. 

In that year, Algeria were semi-finalists in the Africa Cup of Nations and qualified for the World Cup finals in South Africa. They were eliminated at the group stage, but not before they made history by being the first African nation to score four goals in a match in the World Cup finals, when they defeated South Korea. 

Currently, Algeria are considered to be one of the best teams in Africa, although they were defeated by the Ivory Coast in the quarter-finals of the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations.