RIYAD
MAHREZ

The path to the final was orderly: Algeria won all three group games (Kenya, Senegal, Tanzania), beat Guinea 3-0 in the round of 16, and edged Cote d'Ivoire on penalties in the quarter-final. The semi-final against Nigeria at the Cairo International Stadium on 14 July 2019 went 1-1 into stoppage time. In the 95th minute, with the match heading to extra time, Algeria won a free kick about 28 yards out, slightly to the right of centre. Mahrez stepped up, curled an inside-of-the-left-foot strike over the wall and into the top corner. Daniel Akpeyi was beaten on his near post; the camera cut to Algerian fans in the stadium and across the diaspora celebrating; the goal was later named CAF Goal of the Year for 2019.

The final on 19 July 2019 against Senegal was a 1-0 win sealed by a Baghdad Bounedjah goal in the second minute that took a heavy deflection. Mahrez was Algeria's primary creator across the match; the win delivered Algeria's second AFCON title (after 1990 in Algiers) and the country's first major trophy in 29 years. The tournament cemented his status as Algeria's most decorated post-Madjer footballer.

AFCON 2025 in Morocco was Mahrez's sixth and final AFCON. He scored twice against Sudan in the opening match, scored the only goal in a top-of-the-table win over Burkina Faso, scored against DR Congo in the round of 16, and was eliminated 2-0 by Nigeria in the quarter-final. His tournament total left him as Algeria's all-time AFCON top scorer with 8 goals across six editions. He announced his AFCON retirement after the Nigeria loss.

Mahrez had joined Leicester for £400,000 from Le Havre in January 2014, on a recommendation from chief scout Steve Walsh that he was a fundamentally different player from the one Walsh had originally been sent to scout at the same Le Havre fixture. The first 18 months in England were a Championship promotion and a relegation-fight Premier League season. The 2015-16 campaign under Claudio Ranieri reorganised Leicester into a counter-attacking 4-4-2 with Mahrez as the right midfielder, tucked inside to play the third-man combinations with Jamie Vardy and Shinji Okazaki.

His final tally was 17 league goals and 11 assists in 37 appearances. Leicester's title run included the 4-2 win at Manchester City in February that turned the league's leading narrative from 'fluke' to 'real', and the 2-2 draw at Manchester United in May that confirmed the title would arrive (mathematically clinched after a Tottenham draw at Chelsea two days later). Mahrez was the most-watched player in the Premier League that season; the PFA Players' Player of the Year award in April recognised the contribution.

The 2016 CAF African Footballer of the Year award followed in January 2017 — Mahrez beat Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang in the runoff. He is the most recent Algerian winner of the award, after Rabah Madjer (1987) and Lakhdar Belloumi (1981).

City had tried to sign Mahrez in January 2018; the deal collapsed and Leicester held him through the rest of the season. The summer move eventually closed at £60 million, then a club-record fee. He was used by Guardiola initially as a rotation winger behind Bernardo Silva and Raheem Sterling, but progressed through 2019-20 and 2020-21 to become a guaranteed starter on the right flank. The 2020-21 Champions League final loss to Chelsea was the most painful moment of his City career; the 2022-23 Champions League win over Inter in Istanbul was the redemption.

His five-year City record reads four Premier League titles (2018-19, 2020-21, 2021-22, 2022-23), two FA Cups, three EFL Cups, three Community Shields and the 2022-23 Champions League — all the major trophies City won between his arrival and departure. He scored in two FA Cup finals and assisted in a third. The continental treble of 2022-23 was completed in his final game in a City shirt.

Al-Ahli paid £30 million in July 2023 on a four-year contract through 2027. He has since helped lift the AFC Champions League Elite trophy in April 2026 — Al-Ahli beat Machida Zelvia 1-0 after extra time in the final. The 2025-26 club season has produced 4 goals and 7 assists in 28 appearances; lower volume than the City years, but his playmaking metrics are among the best in the Saudi Pro League.