Gearing up

Those who will prepare for the 2006 African Nations Cup in Egypt have been selected

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Egypt's Youth Minister Anas El-Fiqi has announced the names of the organising committee for the 2006 African Nations Cup to be held in Egypt in January that year. Inas Mazhar reviews the names and the tasks.

The Supreme Committee is headed by El-Fiqi. The National Olympic Committee (NOC) president and the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) president will serve as deputies. Hani Abou Reida, EFA board member, was selected head of the local organising committee. Abou Reida will also serve as the third deputy to the minister as well as head of the finance and marketing committee.

Hisham El-Khishen, an engineer, appears on the sports scene for the first time to serve as executive director of the tournament. Vikin Djizmedjian and Khaled Abdel-Aziz were selected as El- Khishen's assistants. Djizmedjian was named the tournament's spokesman.

The heads of nine committees were selected for transportation, media, pitches, marketing and finance, medical services, security, protocol, ceremonies and auditors.

Surprisingly, the selection of the organising committee heads did not include EFA members or members of the 2010 World Cup bid except for Abou Reida and Djizmedjian.

Other committee heads include people not necessarily associated with sports. For example, the hospitality and transportation committee will be headed by Ahmed El-Khadem, head of the tourism authority and former regional director of the BBC Arabic service Hassan Abou El-Ela will head the media committee. Sherif Habib, an engineer, will be in charge of the fields. Hatem El-Gabali, chairman of the board of Al-Fouad Hospital, heads the medical committee while the security committee will be led by Fathi Tayel, assistant to the minister of interior. Ambassador Yasser Mourad will lead the protocol committee while the auditors committee will be run by the well-known legal accountant and auditor Hazem Hassan.

After Egypt's failure to collect a single vote at the 2010 World Cup host nation selection in May, and after months of investigation, the People's Assembly recommended that none of those involved in 2010 should be given any task connected to 2006.

"We have chosen the right people for the right job," El-Fiqi said. "All are experts and professionals in their fields and have accepted to work as volunteers. They are not paid and we are sure they'll arrange a successful 2006 African Nations Cup that everybody will be proud of.

"2006 is our top priority. We want to show the world and FIFA our real capabilities. It is a challenge. We have a message to deliver. The budget for the opening ceremony has already been allocated. We want it to be exceptional, equal to opening ceremonies of World Cups." El-Fiqi added.

With only 13 months to go to the African Nations Cup, El-Fiqi admitted that it is a short period but "everybody is focussing on the event and volunteers will be totally dedicated to creating a successful event. For the time being, monthly follow-up meetings will take place in order to discover the obstacles and overcome them."

Renovations are currently taking place at Cairo Stadium with a total budget of LE105 million.

"Egypt is one of the first nations that played football and has won the African Nations Cup more than any other country (tied with Ghana and Cameroon with four). The people deserve a world-class stadium. The capacity will be doubled to 120,000 seats. New services will be added such as shopping malls, restaurants and gyms."

El-Fiqi added that the renovations include the whole Olympic area including the indoor hall, the cycling track, swimming, tennis and squash complexes, the equestrian course and the hockey pitch as well as the NOC and federations headquarters and offices. "But that's long- term. Our main priority is Cairo stadium."

El-Fiqi also discussed the issue of the national team coach. The position was left vacant after the departure of Italian Marco Tardelli last month. "A committee has been formed to select the best candidate to lead the team in the future.

"We don't want to appoint a head coach, then sack him after the mission is completed, whether it is successful or not," El-Fiqi said. "We are looking into the experiences of top football countries. We need a coach for a long term, for years, to give him the chance to achieve results."

According to EFA President Essam Abdel- Moneim, Egypt's famous head coach Mahmoud El-Gohari, the current head coach of the Jordanian national team, is a top candidate.

El-Gohari visited Cairo recently and met with the minister and Abdel- Moneim. "I was surprised to read that we were seen talking with El-Gohari," El-Fiqi said. "Meeting him isn't a secret and we are not denying it. It was an introductory meeting, plain and simple. I've never met him before," El-Fiqi said. "He is a famous and experienced coach and it's logical that we exchange views about the future of the game from an expert. But there was no offer from our side."