Career
He played in two World Cups. He appeared for the Algeria national team at the 1982 World Cup and at the 1986 World Cup, in which he scored one goal, a free kick against Northern Ireland. He is not related to Zinedine Zidane.
He spent nine seasons with hometown club USM Alger, making his first steps in the B team, he had rapidly access to the A"s, then evolving in the Algerian Division 2 in 1972.
He made 15 appearances with the Algerian National Team between 1975 and 1986, 5 of them during the 1982 and 1986 World Cups finals. He then traveled with the Desert Foxes to Spain, to make the first Algerian appearance in the competition, which ended with a tragic elimination after the West-Germany Austria Non-aggression pact of Gijón.
After this deception, he came again with the Desert Foxes into the Mexico 1986 world cup, where he scored his only Fifa World Cup goal against Northern Ireland with a free-kick on the hour mark. The last appeirance of the 1980s Desert Foxes in the World Cup Finals against Spain was also Djamel last international appearance.