Egypt’s Pharaohs national football team are preparing to join their compatriots at the venues of FIFA World Cup 2026. Under the guidance of veteran Coach Hossam Hassan, Egyptian Football was fresh after a rugby showing at AFCON. Hassan didn’t make it to the final, but he is still hopeful. He thinks the learnings from the tournament will put them in good stead as they prepare for next year’s World Cup.
In this year’s AFCON semifinals, Egypt fell to Senegal in a heartbreaking final minute, 1-0 defeat. This loss will pit Egypt against Nigeria in the bronze medal match. The team is known for its illustrious tradition in the AFCON. With seven titles to their name, they are the event’s most successful side.
Hossam Hassan reflects positively on their AFCON journey, stating, “It has been very good preparation for us, we’ve tried several systems of play throughout the tournament and played against different types of opponents.” He admits, despite getting to within a game of the final, that it just never happened.
“I’m really happy with everything that transpired and what we were able to accomplish. We have a good team. We were far from home and didn’t have a huge base of supporters,” he continued.
Egypt is in Group G at this June’s World Cup in Russia. To advance, they will need to achieve commensurate results against Belgium on June 15 in Seattle, New Zealand on June 21 in Vancouver, and Iran on June 26 back in Seattle.
Hossam Hassan has pointed out that Egypt’s squad lacks depth in terms of players from top European clubs, which he believes impacted their performance in AFCON. Only three of them play in Europe at the moment. They are Mohamed Salah of Liverpool FC, Omar Marmoush of Manchester City, and Mostafa Mohamed of FC Nantes. Players coming from a European base have immediate technical advantages and their physical sizes are remarkably more robust. We require all of that additional value structure to put ourselves in a position to perform.
As Egypt get ready for their World Cup campaign, Hassan says they intend to go out and win the tournament. I believe that the Nigeria game provides us with an opportunity to build on our preparation, but we go in there with the desire to win. “Egypt never plays to lose. As an Egyptian team, we have always been proud to win the Cup of Nations seven times before.
