Lausanne, Switzerland, July 4, 2017 - FIVB World Grand Prix debutants Cameroon host Algeria Friday in Yaounde in the all-Africa derby of this year's competition. The two sides have met six times since 2003 at the African Championship and continental Olympic qualifiers, with Cameroon scoring four wins.
Head-to-Head• Cameroon and Algeria will meet for the first time at the World Grand Prix.
• Since 2003, the sides have met six times: four times at the African Championships and twice at the African Olympic Qualification tournament. Cameroon won four times versus two Algerian victories.
• Their most recent encounter came in February 2016, in qualifying for the Olympic Games.
Cameroon won in straight sets in front of a home crowd in the semifinals and went on to qualify for their first Olympic Games by beating Egypt 3-2 in the final.
• On both occasions Algeria beat Cameroon (since 2003), they went on to win the tournament: the 2008 Olympic Qualification and the 2009 African Championships.
Cameroon• Cameroon will participate at the World Grand Prix for the first time.
• Last year, they were the only African team present at the Olympic Games but they lost each of their five group stage matches and finished in joint-11th place.
• They are the third African participant at the World Grand Prix, after Algeria and Kenya.
• Cameroon have lost all of their 15 matches at world level tournaments (Olympic Games and World Championship), failing to claim a set in 13 of those matches.
Algeria• Algeria will participate at the World Grand Prix for the fifth time, after having been present at each of the last four editions.
• Algeria finished in last place in 2013 (20th), 2014 and 2016 (both 28th).
• They have lost 25 of their 27 World Grand Prix matches, with their only victories coming over Australia in 2015.
• Only Australia (0%) and Chinese Taipei (3%) have a lower win percentage in the WGP than Algeria (7%).
• Last season, Yasmine Abderrahim (47) was Algeria's top scorer in the World Grand Prix.