You walk through the streets of Algiers or enter somewhere looking for air conditioning to ease the stifling heat and someone raises their fist and shouts with a strong French accent “Long live Spain!”. “Congratulations!”. Someone watches Ferran Torres’ goal again on the computer. A security member of the Algerian president, dressed in formal attire, approaches to watch as well. “Félicitations!”. Some shops even display the Spanish flag on the glass. The echoes of the Spanish national team’s victory also reach Algeria, where Pedro Sánchez has traveled after attending the World Cup final. The Algerian president, Abdelmajid Tebboune, congratulated him when he received him at the Presidential Palace. “Magnificent!”, said the Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, upon his arrival making the victory sign.
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On Sánchez’s international agenda, an official visit to Algeria was scheduled for July 20 to formalize the end of a crisis triggered in 2020 by La Moncloa’s shift on Western Sahara, which angered the Algerians. Time has meant that this trip, key to securing and increasing the supply of gas from the African country – the main supplier to Spain – and a political agreement has been reached to increase the imported amount – coincides with the national team’s victory.
“It is a day of great joy and celebration in Spain,” were Sánchez’s first words in an institutional statement alongside Tebboune without the possibility of journalists’ questions. “Thanks to the Spanish national team and the technical team for their play and for the victory, because it is a victory for all Spaniards.” The Algerian leader also wanted to congratulate our country. “Congratulations to the Government of Spain for the well-deserved success of the football team.”
a replica of the World Cup
After the official lunch, both leaders cut a cake that was designed to look like a football field with a ball and the Spanish flag. On the table where they plunged the knife, a replica of the World Cup. In the meeting of the delegations, the president of Algeria, who is a good football fan, took the floor behind closed doors to congratulate Spain and point out that the people of Algeria mostly supported the Spanish national team, with applause in the room. Sánchez thanked his words and presented it as proof of the “closeness” between the two peoples.
Sánchez gave Tebboune a red Spanish national team jersey with his name screen-printed and the number 26. The Prime Minister traveled to New York to watch the match. The First Vice President, Carlos Cuerpo, Albares himself, and the Minister of Sports, Milagros Tolón, also did so.
There, in the box, he greeted Donald Trump, President of the USA. A protocol greeting amid a relationship marked by the latter’s attacks on our country. “Yes, I spoke with Spain and congratulated them on having a great team. There is no tension with Spain. I have no tension with anyone,” said the US president after the match. Sources from Moncloa explain that both, in that informal conversation, talked about the World Cup and football. Spain takes over from the USA to organize the next event alongside Portugal and Morocco.
Albares and Sánchez also had the opportunity to chat with Marco Rubio, US Secretary of State, also about football and the event Spain will organize in four years.
