Egyptian football board meets as coach Hossam Hassan backs Egyptian coaches over foreign hires

Egypt's football federation board convened Tuesday to review national-team preparations while coach Hossam Hassan defended hiring Egyptian coaches.

• The EFA board, chaired by Hani Abu Rida, met Tuesday to discuss national-team preparations, Olympic team plans under supervisor Shawky Gharib, and a technical-committee post for former coach Diyaa El-Sayed.
• Gharib proposed forming new national youth teams for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 age groups.
• At a press conference at the Goal Project, Abu Rida told youth players to free themselves from pressures and said each national team should produce four or five players for the senior squad.
• Hassan said Egypt has national coaches who deserve opportunities, and that foreign coaches demand ideal conditions and cost the federation about 500,000 Egyptian pounds daily in hotel expenses.
• Hassan said selection relies solely on pitch performance regardless of age or club.
• He denied any pressure to include Barcelona player Hamza Abdel Karim in the 2026 World Cup squad.
• Hassan advised young players to take Mohamed Salah as a role model and voiced interest in dual-nationality professionals abroad.
• The EFA board approved a digital transformation project to mechanize technological services, tasking secretary-general Mustafa Azzam with opening tenders for it.
• It approved forming a committee to organize the North Africa championship in Ismailia from September 21 to October 6.
• It approved Khaled El-Derandaly leading the senior national team delegation to South Sudan.