Coach: Rabah Saadane Players: Djamel Abdoun Rada Babouche Nadir Belhadj Yacine Bezzaz Hameur Bouazza Madjid Bougherra Faouzi Chaouchi Rafik Djebbour Lounes Gaouaoui Abdelkader Ghezzal Kamel Ghilas Rafik Halliche Abdelkader Laifaoui Khaled Lemmouchia Yazid Mansouri Karim Matmour Mourad Meghni Nassim Ouserrir Slimane Raho Rafik Saifi Anthar Yahia Hassan Yebda Samir Zaoui Karim Ziani

The next year promises to be huge for Algerian football as the nation prepares to showcase its talents both on the regional and the global stage.

The Desert Foxes ended a wait of more than two decades for World Cup qualification back in November when they sealed a dramatic play-off win over arch-rivals Egypt to book a place at the finals for the first time since 1986.

First, though, they will turn their attention to the Africa Cup of Nations in Angola this January, and Rabah Saadane's side will be determined for the tournament to prove more than simply a dress rehearsal for what is to come later in 2010.

This will be their 14th appearance in the continental showpiece, but surprisingly it comes after six years in the international wilderness.

Over the years, several high-profile players have emerged with family routes that can be traced back to Algeria - the biggest and most prominent of those being Zinedine Zidane.

The great midfielder chose to play for France, but the African country has still produced some famous names, such as Djamel Menad, Mahieddine Meftah and Lakhdar Belloumi, all of whom were part of the golden generation of the 1980s.

During that decade, Algeria featured in two World Cups - 1982 and 1986 - while they played in all six Africa Cup of Nations tournaments between 1980 and 1990, the year they won their first continental crown.

They also finished as runners-up, twice ended third and took fourth place in that period. But since then, things have not gone well and in six further editions, their best finish has been three quarter-final losses.

Added to that misery was the failure to qualify at all in 2006 and 2008, but they now look to be on course for a good showing in Angola under the leadership of Saadane, coincidentally the man who led them to their last World Cup in 1986.

The 63-year-old coach has plenty of talent within his current group of players and seems to have instilled in them the belief they so evidently lacked in recent years.

Several of Algeria's players now ply their trade in the major European leagues, with the likes of Madjid Bougherra, Hassan Yebda and Yazid Mansouri commanding first-team football for Scottish club Rangers, English side Portsmouth and Lorient in France respectively, which has helped enhance the professionalism and stability within the squad.

Algeria's growing proficiency was clearly evident throughout their qualifying campaign, which saw them match Arab rivals Egypt, the six-time African champions, all the way in Group C - so much so that the two teams were inseparable in every department after the regulation six games.

It required world governing body FIFA to put in place a historic one-game play-off at a neutral venue, in this case Sudan, before the two sides were eventually separated, courtesy of an Antar Yahia strike that handed Algeria the vital win.

Now Saadane is looking forward to both competitions with great enthusiasm, and he is hoping to use the Orange AFCON, ANGOLA 2010 to help educate his players.

He said: "The Africa Cup of Nations will be a good opportunity for many of my players who have not had the chance to compete at such a magnitude of an international competition.

"It will be a special moment for the players who will be at the competition and a step further towards the World Cup."