A promising player until a knee injury at 17 forced him to change his career, Ahmed Khelifi became the first Algerian international referee after their independence (1956). Ahmed Khelifi died May 2012.

matches

He officiated ta the first African Games in Brazzaville in 1956 and the final of the Military Cup in 1966. The African Cup of Nations 1966 and 1968. The first final of the Coup d'Algérie in 1963.

rock the casbah

In interviews Khelifi liked to reminiscence about playing football with his friends in the casbah by the sea after school. He became a first class referee in 1951 and took a job as a telegrapher. Later on he was "inspecteur de Postes et Telecommunications".