A tribute to a legend: Mustafa Kamel Mansour

CAIRO – 21 June 2017: It is hoped that by looking for and understanding our roots, we will better understand what is possible in the future.This series will uncover the history of Egyptian football, highlighting the men who contributed to the game.

1-Mustafa Kamel Mansour

He was the goalkeeper of the first Egyptian football team that played in the FIFA World Cup in 1934 in Italy, becoming the first Egyptian goalkeeper to play abroad when he went to Scotland after the World Cup.

Always in the position of goalkeeper, Mansour played for his school team before starting his career with African team of the century, Al-Ahly. He would eventually become the starting goalkeeper for the Egyptian national team.

Under Scottish manager James McCrae the Egyptian team had great players like Mahmoud Mokhtar “El-Tetsh”, Mohamed Latif, Ali El-Kaf, Abdelrahman Fawzi and Mustafa Kamel Mansour.

Using a straight knock out system at the World Cup, Egypt faced Hungary in their first match and lost 4-2 after controversial decisions from the referee. As reported by BBC, the referee didn’t accept an Egyptian goal and allowed another goal for Hungary after a clear foul.

Egypt still gained great reputation after the World Cup and McCrae advised Mansour to play in Britain, leading Mansour to join Scotland’s oldest club Queen’s Park while studying physical education in Scotland.

While Mansour only played with Queen’s Park for two years, he is still remembered well by fans for refusing to leave the club to join Celtic for £5000 ($6,334) according to Queen’s Park website.

Mansour’s best match with Queen’s Park was against Glasgow Rangers in the Glasgow Cup semifinal when he led his team to victory and was described by the press as “the hero who took the Glasgow Cup from the Rangers,”).

Returning to Egypt and playing with Al-Ahly, Mansour would go on to become a member of Al-Ahly’s coaching staff, after retirement, from 1954 to 1963.

At the age of 89, Mansour died in 2002, but will always be positively remembered in the history of Egyptian football.