Football disaster in Egypt

Farouk Gaafar Cairo - Hisham Shahin The technical director of El-Geish club Farouk Gaafar gave Arabstoday an exclusive interview in which he spoke about the dangers of stopping football activities in Egypt and how it damaged the football scene. The premier league needs to be back again, he said, in order to see football go back to normal. AT: What do you think about stopping football activity in Egypt? Farouk Gaafar: it affected all sports organisations, from dressing room workers to administrators, trainers and players. The evidence is in Al-Ahly team struggling to win against the Nigerian Sunshine team. AT: Do you expect the league to back this season? FG: The league needs to return as soon as possible because the football field is the soul of any player or trainer it’s as important as the air we breathe. Without the league will Egyptian residents will feel depressed and so would we. AT: Why did professional playing for trainers and players come to an end? FG: Egyptian player is naturally local, he loves playing in Egypt and getting a good salary, sometimes exceeding EGP 10 mn for each season.  However, foreign trainers are paid less than Egyptians. For example Zamalek team have contracts with trainers paid $ 20,000. AT: Do you think Egyptian trainers deserve should received professional status in training foreign clubs? FG: Several Egyptian trainers are excellent and they can prove themselves if they were given a chance. Trainers like Hossam El Badry in Sudan and Tarek Yehya, Mokhtar Mokhtar in Saudi. The problem is they can’t be part of famous clubs, as Gulf states are mainly dependent on South American and European trainers. AT: How is it possible for a team to win the African cup for three consecutive seasons without increasing or decreasing in its professionals numbers? FG: The players' average age controls this issue. In 2006 the average was 26 years, in 2008 it was 30 years, in 2010 it was 32. So in two African cup seasons we didn’t achieve victory, especially that el-Ahly team has been greatly affected which in turn influences the whole national team. AT: Why are we able to win the African Cup but not the World Cup? FG: Strong African teams always concentrate in winning the world cup, where the players want to offer himself worldwide, also they are afraid to be limited by the African Cups. AT: What do you think about former players returning to Egyptian sport through clubs and unions? FG: They love their work and have spare time. Some of them already succeeded like Samir Zaher, Magdy Abdel Ghani and Ayman Younis who achieved positive results in the last period. This is why the national team achieved victory in three respective seasons in the African Cup. AT: What do you think of the union performance in the latest elections? FG: we respect elections, but the absence of so many athletes is not always good. Sometimes its technical aspects are dismissed and it becomes challenging to balance the administrative side with the technical one. AT: What is the best way to improve football in Egypt? FG: We should manage the union economically so we can support clubs through its revenues away from administration, which already failed. AT: What are your expectations about football union? FG:  I hope they don’t make rapid decisions. They need to prioritise public interest over personal interest. For example when problems started to spread in the street after Hamada El Masry walked out of the union meeting which was a bad indication. AT: What do you think of the eight years rule? FG: It prevents monopoly as we have to give chances for the young generations. We have to change our old ways of thinking because the world is changing around us.