Lounes Gaouaoui is one of the oldest veterans on the Algerian team and is one of the few who was born in Algeria. He started out his career in the Algerian youth school of USM Dra Ben Khedda in 1990 when he was only 13 and stayed there until the age of 20, which is when he moved to the senior level and stayed there for 2 seasons before he was spotted by Algerian giants JS Kabylie and was signed by them in 1999. The talented goalkeeper then began a long spell that lasted eight years with JS Kabylie, which witnessed Gaouaoui win 2 Algerian league titles in 2004 and 2006 and 3 CAF Confederations Cup titles in 2000, 2001 and 2002. From there he moved on to WA Tlemcen in 2007, then to USM Annaba and finally to ASO Chlef where he currently plays.

Gaouaoui made his debut with the Desert Foxes in 2001 against Senegal in a game the Algerians lost 0-1, but he continued to be a regular keeper for the next nine years, making 48 appearances. He was the first choice net-minder during Algeria’s dramatic campaign for the 2010 FIFA World Cup™, however, due to an attack of appendicitis he missed out on the CAF Africa Cup of Nations that was held in Angola earlier this year, but he is expected to make a comeback in South Africa this summer.