The Algerian football team, reigning African champion, won the Arab Cup for the first time by winning (2-0) against Tunisia, Saturday, December 18, in Qatar, at the end of extra time.
At the Al-Bayt stadium in Al-Khor, in northeastern Qatar, the Algerian Greens were delivered by the replacement Amir Sayoud (99e) then by Yacine Brahimi (120e+5), in front of crowded stands of more than 60,000 spectators, including the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Tamim Ben Hamad Al Thani.
The Fennecs, who have not lost a match during the Arab Cup, had, like all the nations involved, to do without their players playing in Europe. Algeria had won the 2019 African Cup of Nations, after twenty-nine years of a long wait since its first continental coronation.
The tournament took place in six of the eight stadiums that will host 2022 World Cup matches; the final took place on Qatar’s National Day and one year to the day before the World Cup final. Earlier today, the host nation beat Egypt on penalties (5-4, 0-0 at the end of regulation time), advancing to third place in the first Arab Cup to stand under the FIFA umbrella.
Tensions on the Champs-Elysées in Paris
The Algerian victory was celebrated in several cities in France, such as Paris, Lyon, Nantes, Toulouse and Le Havre.
The celebrations have sometimes turned into a clash with the police, as on the avenue des Champs-Elysées, which had been banned from supporters by the authorities. According to a midnight report, 25 people were arrested and 378 were fined for non-compliance with the prefectural decree or for traffic offenses (45), the Paris Police Prefecture reported on Twitter. The police dispersed the supporters who gathered and fined those who remained despite the dispersion, said a police source on Saturday evening. At around 11:30 p.m., there were still a few supporters on the Champs-Elysées, without incident, this source added.