Rachid Mekhloufi (Arabic: رشيد مخلوفي; born 12 August 1936 in Sétif, French Algeria) is an Algerian former footballer who played as a striker. He later became a manager and coached the Algeria national football team.

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Rachid Mekhloufi

Personal information
Full name	Rachid Mekhloufi
Date of birth	(1936-08-12) 12 August 1936 (age 87)
Place of birth	Sétif, French Algeria
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Youth career
0000–1954	USM Sétif
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1954–1958	Saint-Étienne	102	(59)
1962–1963	Servette FC	19	(13)
1963–1968	Saint-Étienne	192	(78)
1968–1970	Bastia	67	(20)
Total		380	(170)
International career
1956–1957	France	4	(0)
1958–1962	FLN	40
1963–1969 [1]	Algeria	10	(5)
Managerial career
1969–1970	Bastia
1971–1972	Algeria
1975–1979	Algeria
1980–1981	Al-Riyadh[2]
1982	Algeria
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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In the middle of the Algerian War, on 13 April 1958, ten of the most well-known France-Based professional football (soccer) players fled from France to go and play for their new FLN football team. This team was created from the National Liberation Front (Algeria). One of these 10 players was Rachid Mekhloufi. Rachid, "abandoned the French team preparing for the World Cup Finals in Sweden and instantly became an Algerian national symbol."^[3] By the summer, more and more France-based Algerians came to join the original ten who fled. Rachid and his teammates wanted to show the French people the serious war that was going on in Algeria. Many in France did not realize the extent of the war raging in Algeria, but when ten high-profile players left, the French citizens had to wonder and figure out the exact reason, especially when a few of the 10 footballers were preparing for the World Cup Finals. At the same time, both Rachid and his teammates gave a sense of nationalism to the citizens of Algeria during their efforts in the war. Mekhloufi (and many others) sacrificed their careers by playing in less competitive environments with lesser demanding training regimes. Mekhloufi is quoted saying "I had lost the taste for effort, the necessary fight" when asked about playing political football. Even though France attempted to hinder the FLN team's success by requesting to FIFA that the team not be recognized, FIFA was only able to enforce these restrictions in some countries.^[3]