Before the 2015 to 2016 season, bookmakers gave Leicester City odds of 5,000 to 1 to win the Premier League. Riyad Mahrez helped them do it.
Mahrez was born in 1991 in Sarcelles, a suburb north of Paris, to an Algerian father and a mother of Algerian and Moroccan descent. His father, who encouraged his football, died when Mahrez was 15. Scouts often dismissed him as too thin.
A late start
Mahrez played for small French clubs, including Quimper and Le Havre, before Leicester City, then in England’s second tier, signed him in 2014 for a modest fee. He helped them win promotion to the Premier League.
The miracle
Leicester had only narrowly escaped relegation the season before. In 2015 to 2016, under manager Claudio Ranieri, Leicester stunned English football by winning the Premier League title. Mahrez, with his dribbling, left foot and goals, was their standout player alongside Jamie Vardy and N’Golo Kanté, scoring 17 league goals. The title was confirmed on 2 May 2016, when Tottenham, the only side that could catch them, drew at Chelsea. He was named the PFA Players’ Player of the Year, the first African player to win the award.
He was also named African Footballer of the Year for 2016, following the Algerian winners Lakhdar Belloumi and Rabah Madjer of the 1980s.
Manchester City
In 2018, Mahrez joined Manchester City for a club-record fee. Under Pep Guardiola, he won multiple Premier League titles, domestic cups and, in 2023, the Champions League as part of a treble season.
Algeria
Mahrez chose to represent Algeria. In 2019, he captained the national team to the Africa Cup of Nations title in Egypt, Algeria’s second continental crown. His last-minute free kick against Nigeria in the semi-final sent Algeria into the final.
Saudi Arabia
In 2023, Mahrez moved to Al-Ahli in Saudi Arabia.
Style and personality
Mahrez is known for his close control, his curling shots and his calm manner. He is popular in Algeria and among North African communities in France and England.
Legacy
Leicester’s title remains one of the greatest upsets in sport. Mahrez, the skinny winger many clubs ignored, was at the centre of it.
He was told he was too small for top-level football. He answered with a league title nobody predicted and a free kick Algeria will never forget.
