African player of the year. One thing was becoming noticeable in the last few years – continent-wide recognized solid stars. Players, who appeared among the top three steadily, not just because of a good year or the whims of local interests. Ali Fergani of Algeria was voted third – he played for two clubs in 1981: the French Montpellier and the Algerian JS Tizi-Ouzou (JS Kabylie). The success of Tizi-Ouzou propelled Fergani so high, no doubt. Thomas N’Kono was second – he was among the best for a third time. His club – Canon (Cameroon) did not win anything internationally, but the goalkeeper evidently was recognized as a continental star and his performance was no longer hidden. First was voted young attacking midfielder, who, like N’Kono did not play for a winning team, but impressed nevertheless.
Lakhdar Belloumi, 23-years old, was already a regular for the national team of Algeria and the star of GC Mascara. Young as he was, he already played for a good 5 years top level fotball – debuting for GC Mascara in 1976, then moving to MC Oran for two years, then to MC Alger for another two years, and returning to GC Mascara in 1981. For the national team of Algeria, he debuted in 1978 – it was largely his playing for the national team, which impressed the journalists. GC Mascara had nothing to brag about in 1981, especially compared to JS Tizi-Ouzou, but Belloumi was voted number one. The Algerian star was recognized by the world later, of course – only when Algeria appeared at the World Cup finals, but that was normal. Yet, his career was strange – a huge number of African players of the 1970s and before never got a chance to play professional football, but things were changing, especially for the players of Belloumi’s generation. Jumping ahead, Belloumi was one the finest African players of the 1980s – and he never played in Europe. In fact, he played only one season outside Algeria – 1988-89 (12 matches for Al-Arabi SC, Qatar). He was noticed, especially after voted player of the year – Barcelona wanted him before the 1982 World Cup and a few years later, in 1985 – Juventus. Perhaps Juventus’ interest was most important: they wanted Belloumi at the time Platini was the mega-star of the team – and the Algerian played the same position! Belloumi himself explained that the reason for not playing in Europe was the law: Algerian players were not allowed to leave the country before the age of 27. How strictly the law was enforced is hard to judge, but the fact is Belloumi never played for any European club. He is one of the greatest Algerian players of all time, though – and played 101 matches for the national team, in which scored 27 goals.
