Algeria's Sofiane Feghouli is consoled by teammate Djamel Mesbah
Algeria's Sofiane Feghouli is consoled by teammate Djamel Mesbah (back) after their loss to Germany at the end of their 2014 World Cup round of 16 game at the Beira Rio stadium in Porto Alegre June 30, 2014. REUTERS

Algeria national football team has gained more attention after the historical World Cup campaign, following reports the team is going to donate its $9 million winnings to Gaza.

But Al Jezeera and the Telegraph Football Writer Maher Mezahi refuted the report, saying the reported quotes by captain Islam Slamani were apparently reconstructed.

Algeria, a small football country in Africa, won millions of new fans after its solid outing in the World Cup 2014, which saw the country advancing into the group stages for the first time.

Its flamboyant playing style has allowed them to get the better of elite teams in their group, and even gave favorite Germany a scare in their highly competitive round-of-16 clash earlier this week.

But the accolades and admirations pouring for the national team did not stop there. Algeria won the hearts of more fans following reports about Algeria's decision to give all their winnings to war-tattered Gaza, where the team has a huge Palestinian fanbase.

Waleed Abu Nada, Jordanian football writer and Dutch daily newspaper Algemeen Dagblad first broke the news about Algeria's great act of kindness. In the story, Slamani's was quoted as saying, "They need it more than us."

Controversy in the Story

With the story becoming viral on several social media platforms, the Telegraph ESPN and Al Jezeera string writer Maher Mezahi refuted the news by posting a series of tweets on Thursday.

"Hate to burst everyone's bubble, but there's no credible source for #ALG players donating their bonuses to Gaza. Twitter rumour gone mad," Mezahi said.

He went on to say no major Algerian press release news about the national team's donation to the people of Gaza, adding the rumors could just stemmed from Waleed Abu Nada's misquoting of the tweet by a certain Med El Hadi Gaba.

"Seems like the rumour was started by this guy. EL Hadi Gaba No idea who he is... Rambles incoherently about Slimani and Gaza. Then @waleedabunada took that and reconstructed the quote to 'They need it more than us.' He got 2K RT out of it. DailyMail/others hopped on," Mezahi posted.

The veteran Algerian football writer even believed the story has become a mess with several respected sites like LeButeur and the Daily Mail quoting Slimani's Gaza donation speech.

In a post by Spanish football site JuezCentral, Al Jezeera confirmed there's no news backing up Algeria's donation.

(James Macares/Youtube)

For more Algeria football news, read more at IBT Sports.