Rabah Gherbi

When he was 10-years-old Rabah Gherbi began playing handball in Algiers with his older brother. In his teens Gherbi represented the ERC Alger, in addition to being selected to play for the national youth team, winning the African Junior Championship with the latter in both 1986 and 1988. Domestically he won the Algerian Cup in 1988, followed by the Algerian Championship two years later. In 1989 Gherbi also made his first appearance for the senior national team.

In 1993 Gherbi made the bold move to sign for the Tunisian team Club Africain, playing with the side for the next three years, winning two league titles and the national cup. At the end of his spell with the club he was selected to represent Algeria at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics, playing in five matches and scoring four goals. After the Games he spent three years in France playing for Montpellier, briefly returning to Algeria in 2000, before going back to Montpellier, where he ended his playing career in 2003. Gherbi’s spell in France was very successful, winning the French Championships on four occasions (1998–99, 2002–03), along with three French Cups (1999, 2002–03).

After nearly a decade away from the sport Gherbi returned as the assistant manager of the Algerian national team in 2012. Three years later he had a brief stint managing a team in Kuwait, before taking charge of the Algerian junior side in 2016. One year later Gherbi had gone back to Kuwait to coach at Kazma Sport Club, followed by a short appointment as the assistant manager to the Saudi Arabia national team. In 2022 Gherbi had another spell with the Algerian national team, but was dismissed soon afterwards following a string of poor results.