Al-Ahram Weekly Special Publication: EGYPT 2010 BID

Why Egypt?

Why should Egypt host the 2010 football World Cup? Because we already have everything else -- safe streets, vibrant cities, people with ever-ready 60-watt smiles. And let's not forget what all this is leading up to. We have football -- 5,000 years of it, and we have fans -- millions of them. Nothing missing around here except Miss World and the World Cup. We'd like to have both.

We are not jingoistic but we are unapologetic fans of Egypt. Being Egyptian has something to do with it, of course. But our desire to help bring the World Cup to where we believe it belongs does not stem solely from a sense of patriotic duty. Quite simply, we are convinced that Egypt has the best shot at the tournament because it has the best credentials and, as such, fully deserves to play host to world football's showpiece event.

We are not trying to sex us up -- though if we had Tony Blair for cheerleader, we are sure he would give it his best shot. We are not fabulously grand and great. We have problems. We are not always precision-perfect people, we are not drowning in money and we have things that go bump in the night. (These are our cars and they go bump all night and all day).

We have problems -- but just like everybody else. Mexico was deemed worthy of hosting not one but two World Cups despite its crowds and smog.

--read on--

The bid: The vision and the dream
Yasmine El-Rashidi assesses the prospects of Egypt being chosen to host global football's premier event

The kingmakers
As FIFA's team of inspectors flit from one bid country to the next, the fate of nations hangs in the balance. Nyier Abdou dissects a World Cup bid

Why Egypt? by Alaa Abdel-Ghani

Will to win
With just a few weeks to the naming of the African host for the 2010 World Cup finals, the rivalry between the five competing nations reaches its climax. Inas Mazhar writes

From the press: The Sphinx may yet have the last laugh
The foreign media have been nit-picking reasons why Egypt is not capable of hosting 2010 -- like no beer-drinking in the streets. After a three-day tour of the country hosted by the Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports, British journalist Andrew Warshaw offered his own humorous account in the Sunday Telegraph

The World Cup explained
Football flashes
Egypt plans for paper pyramid
THE BID: News briefs
European vacation

From the press
As part of its bid to host the World Cup, Egypt's 2010 committee invited an international delegation of senior sports editor and writers to assess the national mondial potential for themselves. This is what Ron McKay of the Sunday Telegraph had to say

Blatter celebrates birthday in Egypt
The arrival of FIFA President Joseph Blatter in Egypt on Sunday was a bash of an affair

Exercise in objectivity
In an effort to allow the world to objectively assess Egypt's 2010 bid, senior football journalists from around the world were invited to conduct their own inspections. Inas Mazhar accompanied the 14-man delegation on its three-day visit to Cairo, Giza and Alexandria

Carl Lewis says "YES" to Egypt 2010
WORLD-FAMOUS athlete Carl Lewis -- described by the world as "the greatest athlete of all time", and "the legendary athlete of the last century", chatted with Abeer Anwar during his Egypt visit last week.

Behind the scenes
If a nation were to be characterised by a single term, it is quite probable that for Egypt "passion" would be the allocated adjective of choice. Nashwa Abdel-Tawab visits Egypt 2010 committee headquarters, and chats with the 30 young men and women who have made the bid campaign their life

Alive and kicking
Despite an avalanche of analysis from the western press slamming Egypt as a "non-contender" to the bid, Egypt's campaign around the world remains strong. Inas Mazhar reports

Money talks
As the buzz surrounding FIFA's January visit begins to fade, the global vote for Egypt gets stronger. Inas Mazhar looks at the supporters, and assesses the benefits the World Cup would bring

Global support
As the buzz surrounding FIFA's January visit begins to fade, the global vote for Egypt gets stronger. Inas Mazhar looks at the supporters, and assesses the benefits the World Cup would bring

African supremacy
As the FIFA inspection committee's one-week tour of Egypt came to an end, delegation head Jan Peeters reiterated his satisfaction with Africa as the 2010 host continent of choice. Inas Mazhar reports

Egypt rendez-vous
The FIFA inspection committee which arrived Friday continues its seven-day inspection visit to Egypt. Inas Mazhar reports

We are not alone
In case you've forgotten, Alaa Abdel-Ghani reminds us that there are four other countries bidding to host the 2010 World Cup

Noble support:
Naguib Mahfouz blesses Egypt's bid

Footballism
As the world turns increasingly to football in anticipation of the 2010 bid, Yasmine El-Rashidi submerges herself in the hype and tries to figure out what the fan frenzy is really about

Matter of fact
German-Egyptian football fan Nora AbouSteit tells the Weekly why the 2010 World Cup has to come to Egypt

Send a message saying:

YES TO EGYPT

datainfo@fifa.org

or

FIFA House
Hitzegweg 11, P.O Box 85, 8030 Zurich, Switzerland