History of greatness
A walk down memory lane gives Alaa Abdel-Ghani a glimpse of Egypt's greatest football players
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El-Khatib (centre) in his earlier playing days; French legend Michelle Platini honouring Hossam Hassan; El-Gohari; Hamada Imam
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Egypt is the 32nd best country in the world of football. If you're wondering whether that is good or bad, it is all very much a matter of perspective and how you choose to look at the glass. If it's half full, then we are pretty darn good. Considering that almost the entire planet plays the game, and that 204 countries have some form of established soccer league, then Egypt unquestionably can claim a place alongside the global "big boys".
Of course it is a matter of perspective, and if you're the type who's more concerned with what is not in the glass, then we are 172 steps from being the worst country in football. Roughly one-fifth of the globe can beat its chest and thumb its nose and proclaim unequivocally that they are more magnificent than we.
We might not be in the upper tier of top flight, world class football, but the record -- and don't forget the glass -- shows we're not too far behind either, and that is due almost exclusively to the pedigree of players we have produced over the years. How they wowed us with their dancing feet, their majestic turns, the feints, the jinks, the give-and-go and the whole wonderful razzle-dazzle show.
Whether glued to TV sets or stadium seats, from us they brought out gasps of delight, the "ooohs" and "aaahs". For this, we are eternally indebted.
Hussein Hegazi
No better player to start with than Hegazi, Egypt's first genuine football superstar. The fame came because Hegazi played for the British as well as against them.
As a 20-year-old Hegazi, travelled to London in the summer of 1911 to study engineering at University College. At some point he came into contact with the south London club Dulwich Hamlet. In a pre-season warm- up, he was summed up as "quite a good player, with a lightning drive, but is liable to wander out of his position".
After the first league match, one local reporter confidently predicted that Hegazi "should make quite a name for himself in English amateur football".
The South London Press described his first Dulwich Hamlet v Nunhead derby as "one of the most peculiar, yet at the same time, one of the best games Champion Hill has known. The Egyptian gave a splendid exhibition... the way he makes openings for himself and his wing men shows much brain work." Again, from the SLP, on 13 October, the thinking man's footballer "...simply conjured with the ball, balancing the wing men splendidly, and by judicious feeding kept them on the more".
The press surrounding Hegazi catapulted him into demand, and the young Egyptian was quickly lured to Fulham's Second Division team. A report on one match he played there, with a photo of Hegazi and a few biographical details, appeared in a national weekly sports journal under the heading, "An Egyptian Centre Forward." The writer, for the Athletic News, enthused about the "... full-blooded Egyptian, Hussein Hegazi, the young man who has been scoring some brilliant goals for Dulwich Hamlet this season."
The Egyptian then returned to Dulwich, but his back-and- forth transferring forced the Hamlet staff to petition the Football Association requesting protection from the poaching tactics of professional football managers.
Back in Egypt, Hegazi played for the Amalgamated Club, now Zamalek, and the backdrop of one particular match with the All-Stars, a British forces team, was the British occupation of Egypt and the nationalist tension it produced. Lending further to the unease was the fact that most of the British football players were drawn from the British occupation forces. When the whistle had blown, Egypt had won 3- 0, and the British were forced to concede the superiority of Hegazi Effendi and his team.
Mokhtar El-Titch
This diminutive yet larger than life player was the dominant centre forward of his time, the 1930s and 1940s. It was sheer ecstasy to watch this master and his total command of the ball. Such was El-Titch's wizardry that after his death in 1963, Ahli paid homage by naming its 30,000-seat football stadium after him and erecting a bust in his likeness in the middle of the club's fountain area. It was the first, and would be the only time, that Ahli -- which has generated a galaxy of outstanding players in its history -- would single out one footballer for such commemoration.
Yehya Imam
Probably the country's best ever goalkeeper. A stalwart in the nets for Zamalek, Imam had a mighty leap that could carry him almost from one goalpost to the other. Was also known for being the first of the three famous family members, the tree having produced star son Hamada and, in turn, Hamada's star offspring Hazem.
Abdel-Karim Saqr
If records had been kept, Saqr would have probably made it into the Guinness Book of Records for the number of times he could juggle a ball without letting it fall. He was especially adept at running full speed with the ball seemingly scotch-taped to his forehead. Playing in both the 1936 and 1948 Olympic Games, Saqr was one of a minority who succeeded in playing for both Ahli and Zamalek -- the country's traditional arch- rivals -- helping Ahli win one cup and Zamalek three. He scored in the first Ahli- Zamalek encounter in October 1948. The game ended 2-2.
El-Sayed El-Dizwi
Known simply but aptly as "the magician". Born in 1926, El-Dizwi played for Misri of Port Said, then Ahli for which he helped win four league titles beginning in 1956, and two cups. Scorer of five goals against Norway in Oslo in 1955 in a match Egypt won 5-4. The result was to receive several offers to play in Europe. Lore has it that in a game against Holland, the Dutch queen jokingly asked after the match that El-Dizwi's football boots be checked for magnets, so adept was he at keeping the ball virtually glued to his feet.
Saleh Selim
If charisma could be measured, the yardstick would be this inspirational midfield captain of the famed Ahli team of the 1950s and 1960s which won nine successive league titles, beginning in 1948 -- an Egyptian all-time record. Selim was one of the first Egyptians to play abroad -- a one-year stint with Strum Graz of Austria in 1962. Selim was Ahli club president from 1980 to 1988, then again from 1992 to 2002. His death on 6 May 2002 at age 72 was mourned by the nation. Ahli's recent failings in the league African and Arab championships -- after having been selected Africa's football club of the century -- has been directly attributed to his absence.
Hamada Imam
Wily "the fox" Imam had an impeccable nose and a killer instinct for goals. He scored a famed hat-trick in an emphatic 5- 1 demolition of then Premier League winners West Ham United, which had come to town in 1966 with newly crowned World Cup-winning heroes Bobby Moore and Geoffrey Hurst. Imam is now vice-president of the Egyptian Football Association and host of a popular football TV phone-in show.
Hassan El-Shazli
The most prolific striker of all-time, El-Shazli is top scorer in Egyptian league history with 176 goals. In the 1974-75 season, El-Shazli scored 34 goals, a one-season record that still stands. And he did it at a relatively old age of 34. An absolutely devastating shooter, lethal with both feet, he led Tersana to its only league title in 1963. El-Shazli holds the record of seven-time league scorer.
Mahmoud El-Khatib
If not the best player, certainly the most famous. A brilliant dribbler and scorer from seemingly impossible angles, El- Khatib was once described by his former coach, Hungarian great Hidegkuti of the Magnificent Magyars, as one of the world's best players. The list of accolades and achievements is long: the only Egyptian to win the African footballer of the year (Ballon D'Or), presented by France Football magazine, in 1983; holder of the most goals scored in African club championships, with 37; named Arab Sportsman of the 20th Century; one of only two Egyptians named to the African all- star team of the century. Despite numerous offers to play elsewhere, El-Khatib never wore a club shirt other than the red of Ahli, from 1972 to 1988.
Hossam Hassan
Often called Egypt's greatest because of the number of championships he helped club and country collect -- 39 -- and because of longevity. In May 2001, Hassan broke the record for most international games played with 157 caps. The record has since fallen and with no more games in the foreseeable future, it does not appear that Hassan, though still active at 37, will be able to break it again. He at present has 160 caps, the string beginning against Norway on 10 September 1985. Scored what is perhaps Egypt's most important goal, the dramatic header against Algeria that catapulted the country into the 1990 World Cup. Has an Egyptian high 60 goals in international games, placing him eighth on the all-time list. Also, the second highest all-time Egyptian league goal-scorer with 143 tallies. Combined with twin Ibrahim to form an inseparable partnership -- and double trouble, the mercurial temper of both making them the bad boys of Egyptian football.
In alphabetical order, honourable mentions:
Badawi Abdel-Fatah, Abdel-Galil, Abdel-Aziz Abdel-Shafie, Ali Abu Greisha, Taher Abu Zeid, Helmi Abul-Maati, Essam Baheeg, Hanafi Bastan, El-Diba, Rifaat El-Fanagili, Sherif El- Far, Mahmoud El-Gohari, Mohamed El-Guindi, Alaa El- Hamouli, El-Ka's, Farouk Gaafar, Abu Habaga, Adel Heikal, Hemmemi, Ikrami, Taha Ismail, Mohamed Latif, Hussein Madkur, Mustafa Mansour, Ahmed Mikawi, Samir Qutb, Hani Ramzi, Mustafa Riad, Rida, Shehta, Hassan Shehata, Fuad Sidqi, Ibrahim Youssef, Helmi Zamoura, Ali Zeiwar.
[To read more about these players and the details that transformed them into global geniuses of the ball, see the Twenty- Ten page each week for our weekly 'portrait of a pro'.]
