Algerian fans are pressuring their national football association to keep Bosnian coach Vahid Halilhodzic, Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz said on Wednesday.
Halilhodzic’s contract expired with Algeria’s 2-1 loss in the World Cup last-16 round on Monday and he said that he was quitting a day later.
Algerians, however, were happy with their team advancing from the group stage and launched the online petition aiming to collect 1 million signatures by Friday in a bid to keep Halilhodzic.
A prominent football player for former Yugoslavia in the 1970s and 80s, Halilhodzic, 61, began coaching his home club Velez Mostar in the early 1990.
He coached northern African and French clubs, including Lille OSC and Paris Saint-German, as well as Cote d’Ivoire before taking over Algeria in 2011.
Media reports have speculated Halilhodzic might return to Turkish club Trabzonspor, where he was coach from 2005-2006.
