7 reasons why you should watch Egyptian football

Not only did the referee not stop the play, the assistant referees thought nothing went wrong and worst of all, the opposing team’s players didn’t even protest for a hand ball and a potential red card for the goalkeeper. The game went on as if nothing happened.

Every Egyptian remembers this famous incident when former Tottenham player Ahmed Hossam (Mido) refused to come off the pitch as he was being substituted against the Ivory Coast in the 2006 African Cup of Nations. 

He had a mouthful with former national team manager Hassan Shehata and to this day, many are still trying to figure out what the two said. 

Yep, current Al-Masry manager Hossam Hassan doesn’t really like it when someone questions his tactics. When asked about a late substitution during the game and whether it was for defensive reasons, he replied: “I can do whatever I want. I thought this was what’s best so I did it.”

Unlike many energetic Arab commentators, retired Egyptian Premier League commentator Mahmoud Bakr is one of a kind. He has done it all. Puns, lame jokes, strong involvement of personal opinion and some racist comments along the way. 

Mahmoud Bakr still remains an icon in the Egyptian football fan-base.

When a team loses a game, the manager usually has some valid reasoning explaining why his team’s performance wasn’t good enough.

However, that’s not the case for some Egyptian managers. 

Following a recent 3-0 loss for Zamalek against Smouha, Zamalek president Mortada Mansour decided not to blame any of his staff but put the blame on sorcery and jin, saying: “Smouha president Farag Amer pays 5000 dollars for an African witch and his spells cost us the game.”

Al-Ahly manager Hossam El-Badry didn’t agree with the referee’s decision, so he gave him the Egyptian men the foo2 le ta7t stare, which provoked the referee and left him no choice but to bench El-Badry.

Ittihad of Alexandria goalkeeper Hany Soliman seemed to be asking Arab Contractors’ forward Ahmed Ali for assistance initially, but then Soliman surprised many by pretending to be assaulted by Ahmed Ali. 

Soliman’s fall was enough to convince the referee, who eventually shown the yellow card to Ahmed Ali in an unfair assessment of the situation.