WHY US?

Hisham Azmy, architect and candidature file coordinator, lists the reasons why he believes Egypt is number one.

"We were the first African nation to do many things," he begins. "This is the list:

-Establish a football association, in 1921

-Participate in the World Cup, in Italy 1934

-Participate, with three other nations, in creating the CAF, in 1957

-Have the first two CAF presidents; in 1957 and 1958

-Win the African Nations Cup title four times -- a record we share with Ghana and Cameroon

-Score the first goal in the history of the African Nations Cup, in the 21st minute in a match against Tunisia on 10 February 1957, Raafat Attia scored

-Hold the record in scoring the fastest goal in the history of the African Nations Cup (ANC), in Tunisia in a match against Gabon, Ayman Mansour scored in the 23rd second of the match

-Host the longest final in 1974; a match between Zaire and Zambia that lasted 210 minutes and was played over two days

-Hold the record of highest spectator turnout in the history of African championships; in 1986 over 100,000 spectators attended the Egypt-Cameroon final

-Boast the only player (Refaat El-Fanaguili) to participate in three ANC finals (1957, '59, '62), and win the African title twice

-Have an honourary vice-president in FIFA

-Host a FIFA championship (U17 in 1997), followed by Nigeria in 1998 which hosted the U20

-Confirm its candidature on 21 May 2003 -- nine days before the deadline

-Submit the 60 copies of the candidature file to FIFA.

"All these factors confirm that Egypt is a great country of football, and that hosting the 2010 FIFA World Cup would be a festive event, uniting not just millions of Egyptians, but also, millions of football fans around the world."

Al-Ahram Weekly Online : 25 - 31 December 2003 (Issue No. 670)
Located at: http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2003/670/sp7.htm