E-football
From the side streets of Cairo to the ancient temples of Luxor, Yasmine El-Rashidi discovers that Egyptian football is everywhere. Cyberspace is no exception
As the boundaries of space and distance diminish in meaning, and the high-tech revolution connects the globe, the nations of the world are moving towards one solitary goal: modernity and consumerism.
Within the political borders of the sands that define Egypt, the intertwining of old and new is intricately at play. From the historic temples in Luxor, where the game of ball is engraved in stone, to the streets of cosmopolitan Cairo, where millions of children play football, to the Internet cafés scattered around the country: football in Egypt has transcended all boundaries.
This first of an E-football series looks at some of the nation's hottest football Web sites:
www.egyptianplayers.com
A great site for fans of the Egyptian superstars, this site categorises its news and clips not by match, but by player. It includes exclusive interviews, downloads of key moments in matches, prediction forecasts of the leagues. Match news can be searched both by professional player names and national league matches. The "forum" section of the site is the most active in the country -- the "Ahly Clubhouse" forum, for example, currently hosts almost 400 topics and 9000 posts! Information on upcoming matches and ticket purchases is also available. Easy to navigate, not too heavy on graphics, aesthetically okay to the eye.
www.egyptianfootball.net
The creation of a football fanatic, plastic surgeon Dr Tarek Said, this site is reputed to be among the most comprehensive on the Egyptian sphere of the sport. Indeed, the site is updated daily with every score, match, championship and league related to Egypt. Perhaps not the site for the Ahly fan given the heavy Zamalek slant and abundance of information. Said, however, does a good job laying out the facts, club bias aside. Perhaps the biggest drawback of this online football haven is the layout and design -- not the clearest to navigate and certainly not designed with any eye for artistic detail or aesthetic appeal. Comprehensive and up-to-date nevertheless, the site also includes a general section on Egyptian sports.
www.efa.com.eg
Clear, graphically clean, and up-to-date, the official site of the Egyptian Football Association offers facts, figures and briefings on everything related to the Egyptian football league. The site has come a long way since it was first launched several years ago, transforming into an easy to navigate and professionally designed site. Content-wise it is not the most creative of options given its limited scope of coverage and lack of original interviews and material. Several links are not yet clickable. Good if you're looking for a quick browse at the latest results and statistics on the Egyptian league of the EFA's latest activities.
www.egypt-2010.com
Kudos for the effort. The official site of Egypt's 2010 World Cup bid, Egypt-2010 has transformed itself from an amateurish site plagued with typos, layout clutter and an impossible- to-navigate site index to a professional, easy-to-use, perfectly laid-out e-football zine.
The site offers all there is to know about the 2010 bid: from the country specifics, to the 4,000-page bid file and its contents, to the supporters, ambassadors, and latest news and events. The bid file is available in PDF file to view, divided into 17 separate sections including finance, marketing, transport and security. The site is available in English, Arabic, Spanish and French, and offers links to other football-related Egypt sites.
For those interested in results and news, however, Egypt- 2010 has little to offer. The press section is editorially lacking, with the latest team news currently posted being over two weeks old.
www.egyptiansoccer.com
The URL of this site is highly deceiving. Perhaps the long- term goal is to provide fans with a comprehensive site on every aspect of Egyptian football. As yet, however, the funky home page entry logo takes you straight to the forum page. The site, in reality, is simply that -- a place to chat with other football crazies.
On the forum level, this URL is a big hit. Divided into several categories (competition and games, local soccer, the Pharaohs, African soccer, world soccer, and egyptiansoccer.com related) this forum arena offers something for everyone. From those who want to test their football general knowledge, to those who want to discuss Ahly, Zamalek, or the country's elite players, you can be sure egyptiansoccer.com will already be talking about it. Activity level is daily and high, and the archive currently boasts over 80,000 posts to about 8,000 messages. Football obsessed with time to kill, this site is for you.
www.mido-online.com
For any fan of the dashing 20-year-old Egyptian hot-shot Ahmed Hossam (Mido), this is a place you cannot miss. The site also offers general news and information on the Egyptian league and players, but it is "Mido Zone" that is the big hit. Pictures, interviews and multimedia galore, Mido fans can surf the site then log on to the Mido forum to indulge in Mido talk. A cool site with Mido wallpaper downloads and sound bites.
[Follow this page for more tips on where to get the latest football software, graphics and downloads.]
www.egyptiansoccer.com
www.egypt-2010.com
