Football : Mohand Cherif Hannachi: “Runaway corruption is eating away at the national championship”

According to the President of the JSK first division football club Mohand Cherif Hannachi, widespread bribery practices are poisoning Algerian football at all levels.

He said, in this connection, that the Algerian Television had so far refused to expose such vile practices in a bid to help the FAF football Federation take drastic measures likely to stamp out this creeping scourge, which is going on unchecked, he added.

Hannachi also hit out against the recent decision by the FAF Federation to schedule the Algeria-DR Congo friendly in a small stadium in the suburbs of Paris arguing that the match could have been played in far better conditions at Annaba stadium in eastern Algeria .

The JSK President further indicated that several so-called professional players, based in Europe called up by national coach Rabah Saadane, were not really up to the mark stressing that some hand-picked footballers, playing in the Algerian first-division championship, could do a far better turn to the Algeria football line-up in expectation of the upcoming combined Africa-World Cup qualifiers slated for 2008.

Mohand Cherif Hannachi, who was the guest Saturday of the sports magazine “Echibek”, also lashed out at the latest FAF General Assembly describing it as yet another “emascarade” on account of gross manipulations, as he put it.