The traditional rivals of Algeria have been Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. In the upcoming 2013 Africa Nations Cup (Afcon), they have been drawn with tournament favourites, Ivory Coast, Tunisia and Togo in group D.
Algeria has won the Africa Cup of Nations (Afcon) once in 1990, when they hosted the tournament.
However, more recently, Egypt has become the main rival after a number of incidents involving the two teams, most recently during the 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification, in which Algeria defeated Egypt 1-0 in a tense tiebreaker in Omdurman, Sudan to qualify to the World Cup.
In 1990, Algeria hosted the 1990 Africa Cup of Nations. In Group A, the Algerians started the tournament by beating Nigeria 5-1, C"te d'Ivoire 3-nil and Egypt 2-nil.
In the semi-finals, Algeria beat Senegal 2-1 and in the final against Nigeria, managed to beat Nigeria to win the African Nations Cup for the first time.
Algeria started the 2010 Afcon in Angola poorly by losing 3-nil to group outsiders Malawi.
However, they improved in the following game against Mali, beating them 1-nil. In the last match, they drew nil-nil with Angola, which sent them to the second round, finishing with the same amount of points as Mali, but with a superior head-to-head record.
Algeria faced C"te d'Ivoire in the quarterfinals, who were considered heavy favourites to qualify, but they got a historic win.
The North Africans then faced Egypt in the semi-finals and it was their first meeting since the World Cup qualification play-off.
In a controversial match, Egypt won 4-nil which was the biggest defeat in the history of the teams' meetings.
Algeria lost 1-nil to Nigeria in the third place game and finished fourth in the competition.
