How to make Egypt’s FIFA dream come true

CAIRO – 2 July 2017: The Egyptian fans dream about reaching the FIFA World Cup finals next year in Russia after 28 years of absence. Do you believe that Egypt will qualify for FIFA world cup finals? Egyptian football finally witnessed a turning point at the international transfer window: this transfer will include many top Egyptian players and allow Egypt to participate in top-level leagues abroad.

Many Egyptian players have joined top-level European clubs in recent years, including Mohamed Salah, Mohamed El Neny, Ahmed Elmohamady, Ramadan Sobhi, Omar Gaber, Mahmoud Trezeguet and Amr Warda for Liverpool FC (England), Arsenal (England), Hull City (England), Stoke City (England), FC Basel (Switzerland), RSC Anderlecht (Belgium) and PAOK Saloniki (Greece), respectively. This makes the Egyptian football national team able to compete in the African world cup qualifiers.

Improving Egyptian football depends on three main pillars if Egyptian officials and players want to make the Egyptian football fans’ dream comes true in Russia 2018.

Egyptian clubs:
The Egyptian clubs should cooperate with the European clubs in exchanging training experiences and football camps for the Egyptian coaches and young players. Egyptian officials should work on founding European football academies in Egypt like the European academies founded in South Africa, Nigeria and Ghana for AFC Ajax (Dutch), FC Barcelona (Spain) and English Premier League side Arsenal.

This year, Feyenoord Rotterdam, current Dutch League winners, are opening four academies in Egypt in order to benefit from young Egyptian talents in the future. The four academies in Egypt located at: Al Maadi Sports Center in Cairo, Hilal Aswan Sporting Club in Aswan, Burussia Club in the Tenth of Ramadan and Sports Center in Ismailia. The academies will help in exploring young Egyptian talents. The academy age group is from 6-18.

Changing the player’s mentality:
Egyptian football players proved that they have the skills to play in top-level in European leagues as a result of joining clubs in England, Belgium and Switzerland… etc. Playing there becomes a dream for other young players who have grown up in the Egyptian league.

Agents:
A player’s agent is the only one who can help him stay on the right track during his working career. Agents should provide the player with advice to improve his abilities and skills. He plays an important role in the player’s career, not only gaining huge amounts of money by signing commercial contracts or joining clubs, but he is also the one who is responsible for contacting the clubs and managing the player’s affairs. Therefore, the player must be able to choose a professional agent to work with.

There are also other elements that allow the players who are playing abroad to be adapted in their new life style and community such as social media platforms and learning foreign languages.

Social media platforms:
In the last decade, technology has played an important role in our daily life. Social media like Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and Instagram enable players to be in contact with their families and fans, easing homesickness. Homesickness is the main trouble for the Egyptian footballers who cannot adapt the new life style in Europe. In addition, the social media is a real and tough evaluating scale for the player’s performance, so they can communicate with the fans for improving their skills, stamina and performance in the pitches.

Exploring new culture:
Every player should explore the culture of the country for which he is playing. It will add volumes to his experience with the team. Learning foreign languages can facilitate new friendships, new opportunities for cultural learning, and build strong ties with their local community, teammates and coaches.