Marwa Eid: from a sports center to OGC Nice

CAIRO – 10 July 2017: Marwa Eid is considered to be the first Egyptian handball female player to play abroad in the top level. Marwa spoke on July 8 to Egypt Today about the difficulties she faced in the start of her career, her journey with Olympique Gymnaste Club (OGC) Nice, and her ambitions in the future.

Speaking about the start of her story with handball, Marwa said, “I began playing handball when I was 6 years old in Zenhom’s sports center before going to Al Ahly in 1996. I played with Al Ahly for 14 years, where I achieved a lot of successes. However, I faced difficulties at the beginning regarding being a woman who is passionate about the sport.”

Marwa added, speaking about her experience with the Egyptian national team, “I started playing for the Egyptian national team in 2003, and I participated in the African Cup of Nations. Since that time, I started considering playing in Europe.”

Marwa moved on to talk about her career with OGC Nice, saying, “I went to Nice and started playing with them while being at the third division. Then the team qualified to the second division and on to the first division. People are satisfied with my performances, and I have a contract that will end by the end of next season.”

Marwa then addressed her opinion about her role in the Egyptian’s Women Conference, saying “I am very happy to participate for the first time in such a big event. It is such an honor to represent women in this event, and I am very satisfied with what I contributed during that conference.”

Regarding her opinion on females’ sports role in Egypt, she said, “Females’ role in Egypt is very poor and people aren’t given much attention to women compared to the attention given to men. I hope that women receive much more attention in the future.”

She continued by saying, “I hope we see the Egyptian female handball team in the next World Cup, since that is not impossible to achieve.”

Marwa ended her talk, saying about her future ambitions, “All the experience that I gained in my career, I hope to implement in the future. I hope to become the first ever female Youth and Sports Minister, since I will work on aiding all sports with the facilities needed.”

Marwa Eid is a perfect example of perseverance, hard work and dedication, which has been shown by not giving up on her dream and by playing her favorite sport in the top level.