Luca Zidane, the son of legendary France attacking midfielder, Zinedine, has been called up to the Algeria national team for the very first time ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Somalia and Uganda, Afrosport reports.
Luca, whose career began at Real Madrid and is currently goalkeeper at Spanish Segunda Division side Granada, is eligible to play for France and Spain.
The 27-year-old however opted to represent Algeria where his father traces his origin from, and his request to switch nationality approved by global football governing body FIFA on September 19.
Luca Zidane is joined by Rafik Belghali, Samir Chergui and Mehdi Dorval in being called up to the Algeria squad for the first time.
Some of the regular faces in the squad includes Riyad Mahrez, Amine Gouiri, Baghdad Bounedjah, Mohamed Amoura, Nabil Bentaleb and Ramy Bensebaini.
قائمة المدرب الوطني فلاديمير بيتكوفيتش تحسبا لمبارتي الصومال وأوغندا ضمن تصفيات كأس العالم 2026
#LesVerts⭐️⭐️ | #123vivalAlgérie🇩🇿 pic.twitter.com/O6TS1BTeOI
— Équipe d’Algérie de football (@LesVerts) October 2, 2025
The Desert Foxes are top of Group G in the qualifiers, four points clear of Uganda and Mozambique.
They will play Somalia in Oran on October 9 with victory securing their place at next year’s World Cup finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico. They will conclude the qualifiers against Uganda in Tizi Ouzou five days later.
