Hocine Achiou


Hocine Achiou is a former Algerian footballer and current manager of the Algeria national under-20 football team.
Achiou was a member of the Algeria national team at the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations where he scored a wonderful individual goal against rivals Egypt.

Football career

Achiou started his playing career with ES Ben Aknoun before joining the junior ranks of USM Alger. He would eventually sign his first professional contract with the club. Achiou was an important member of the team's African Champions League run in 2003 and 2004. USM Alger made the final eight in both those years and even made it to the semi-final in 2003 when they lost 3–2 on aggregate to eventual champions Enyimba FC.
He had numerous opportunities to join European clubs but the player could not agree on financial terms with the clubs. He had trials with Premiership-sides Fulham FC and Portsmouth FC and French clubs CS Sedan and FC Lorient. Hocine finally signed a one-year deal with Swiss club FC Aarau in the summer of 2006. He scored a goal in his first league game against FC St. Gallen. In the summer of 2007, he left FC Aarau after just one season and immediately joined his former team USM Alger. In January 2009, he joined JS Kabylie. َAfter six successful months, he returned to his former team USM Alger. In the summer of 2011, he left USM Alger definitively to join ASO Chlef. In January 2013, he joined MC Oran. In the summer of 2013, he joined USM Bel-Abbès and he led him to return to the Algerian Ligue Professionnelle 1. In January 2016, he joined RC Arbaâ. In January 2017, he joined WA Boufarik.

International career

Achiou was part of the Algerian team that finished second in their group in the first round of the 2004 African Nations Cup behind Cameroon before being defeated by Morocco in the quarter-finals. Achiou had scored an important goal against Egypt in one of the group stage matches that was instrumental in helping Algeria reach the quarterfinals. Achiou also scored a goal against Zimbabwe which would be the difference in the tie-breaker against Egypt, and ultimately qualify Algeria to the quarter-finals. Achiou has 25 caps for the Algerian national team and has scored 3 goals.

National team statistics

Honours