Algeria’s Équipe FLN: the movement that used football to fight for freedom

“Football has long proven to be more than just a game. National teams have unified entire populations. Take Brazil, for instance. In the early 20th century, it was a divided country with various takes on national identity. It wasn’t until they came together and won the 1958 World Cup that the nation truly started to move towards unification. It was in part thanks to football; that one, giant unifier that everyone in Brazil – rich, poor, black, white – could unite behind and identify as truly Brazilian. Now it’s seamlessly woven into their culture. You can’t think about Brazil without thinking of their legacy in football. Algeria can relate to that, just on a different scale. …”
These Football Times
Playing for Independence, The Story of Equipe FLN

The Soccer Fans That Toppled a Government – Michael Correia (2019)
“Algiers was in a celebratory mood when President Abdelaziz Bouteflika announced his resignation on April 2 after popular and military pressure. The crowd outside the central post office, an iconic early 20th-century neo-Moorish building, sang ‘La Casa del Mouradia,’ protesters’ anthem since their first peaceful march in February. It started on the terraces of the leading soccer club, USMA (Union Sportive de la Médina d’Alger). Its title refers to the presidential palace in Algiers’s El Mouradia district and to a hit Spanish television show about a gang of armed robbers, La Casa de Papel, or Money Heist. …”
The Nation

Young Algerian soccer fans sing and chant slogans during an April 12, 2019, demonstration against the country’s leadership. They’re on the peaceful front line of the protest movement, facing down water cannons with attitude, memes, and fearless calls for shampoo.