The Egyptian football players who paved the way for Mo Salah

Mohammad Salah. (AFP file)
Updated 19 June 2018
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The Egyptian football players who paved the way for Mo Salah

  • Long before the Liverpool star arrived in the UK, a handful of Egyptian players made the same journey
  • Mohammed Salah has the fame and, with a reported salary of £200,000 (SR1 million) per week, he certainly has the fortune.

LONDON: The World Cup is underway, and the hopes of football-mad Arab nations are rising. Many eyes are on Mohamed Salah, star of the Egyptian team and of the English Premier League, to elevate the reputation of Arab footballers. 

At Liverpool, the 25-year-old is adored. But he is not the first Egyptian that British football fans have taken to their hearts.

Long, long before Mo, there was Mustafa Mansour and Mohamed Latif in the 1930s and before them, there was Hussein Hegazi and Tewfik Abdullah. All were Egyptians footballers who brought their dazzling skills to British clubs.

One was a striker who had poems written about him; one graced the cover of the top football magazine of the time; one was a goalkeeper regarded as a trailblazer for African football who later served as a government minister, and one played for Glasgow Rangers and went on to become his country’s top football commentator. 

 

Hussein Hegazi

Hegazi was the first. Born into a wealthy aristocratic Cairo family in 1891, he honed his footballing skills by playing against British soldiers and by the time he arrived in England in 1911 to study engineering at University College, London, he was already known in Egypt as a prolific goal scorer, notching up 57 in one season. He was also a top-class runner, winning the national championships in the quarter-mile and half-mile (equivalent to today’s 400 meters and 800 meters) four years in a row. 

How he came to the attention of Dulwich Hamlet FC, a well-established non-league club in South London is unclear but he made his debut with them on Sept. 23, 1911, to great acclaim. With his wiry build (he weighed only 60 kg), he was described as having “a lightning drive.” 

A match report in the local newspaper, the “South London Press,” said: “The Egyptian gave a splendid exhibition… simply conjured with the ball.” Another report from Oct. 13 called him “the thinking man’s footballer.”

The fans loved him as much as the pundits and promptly nicknamed him Nebuchadnezzar. 

It was not long before a much bigger club noticed him. Fulham, then in the Second Division (today’s Championship), were eager to sign him up, especially after Hegazi scored in his try-out for them against Stockport County on Nov. 11.  

Alarmed at the prospect of losing him, Dulwich Hamlet manager Pa Wilson turned up at Hegazi’s lodgings. After listening to Wilson’s pleadings, Hegazi felt honor-bound to stay at Dulwich.

“I was in a difficulty for I wanted to play very much in league football and at the same time I did not want to leave Dulwich Hamlet, who have been very good to me,” he said. Wilson called Hegazi “as honorable a man as ever stepped on to a football field” and a writer for the “Athletic News” was moved to write a five-verse poem in tribute.

Hegazi did two European tours with Dulwich Hamlet and also played for the London county team. In 1913, he embarked on studies at Cambridge University but left before the end of his first year, though not before winning a Blue with the university football team. He played for the national Egyptian team in the 1920 and 1924 Olympics and finally hung up his boots in 1932, aged 40. He died in 1958. A street in the Garden City area of Cairo is named after him.

 

Tewfik Abdullah

Tewfik Abdullah (sometimes spelled Tawfik Abdallah), the second Egyptian to play in Britain, was encouraged by his friendship with Tommy Barbour, a Scottish soldier in the British army serving in Egypt who also played fullback for Derby County.

Born in Cairo in June 1896, Abdullah, a midfielder, began his career with Cairo club, El-Mokhtalat, and played for the national team at the 1920 Olympics. He also played against the British army, where he met Barbour.

Abdullah made his English league debut in October 1920 against Manchester City and was instantly nicknamed “Toothpick.” 

One possibly apocryphal tale about his first game relates that he came out on to the pitch asking, “Where’s me camel?” It transpired he was, in fact, asking, “Where’s Mick Hamill?” the City player he had been assigned to mark. 

Abdullah scored in the match, which Derby won 3-0. The following month, he was on the cover of the magazine “Topical Times,” with the pyramids and the Sphinx in the background, as part of a feature on the fashion for recruiting players “from far afield.”

In 15 appearances for Derby County, Abdullah never scored again and in 1922 he joined Scottish Second Division side, Cowdenbeath, where he was nicknamed “Abe” and was awarded the ultimate accolade when a local leading miner named one of his racing greyhounds Abe in his honor.

Beset by injury, Abdullah only stayed one season in Scotland. In 1923, he joined Welsh non-league Bridgend Town and a year later he was back in the league with Hartlepool, in the northeast of England. He made 11 appearances, scored once and at the end of the 1924 season crossed the Atlantic to join the exotically named Providence Clamdiggers. 

He played for four more teams in the US and went on to coach, but America’s racial segregation laws — which meant he was often not allowed to stay in the same hotels as his white colleagues — dismayed him. He returned to Egypt in the late 1920s for a year but crossed the Atlantic again to join Canadian side Montreal Carsteel, spending the rest of his playing career there. 

After retiring he managed Farouk Club (an old name for Zamalek) and in 1940 became manager of the Egyptian national team, taking them to the 1952 Olympics in Helsinki, Finland.

More than a decade passed before an Egyptian again donned football boots for a British side — and then came a pair of them. 

Goalkeeper Mustafa Kamel Mansour and winger Mohammad Latif were in Egypt’s 1934 World Cup squad, which was coached by Scotsman James McCrea. 

 

Mustafa Kamel Mansour

Mansour, born in Alexandria in August 1914, began his club career with Al-Ahly. Latif, five years older, played for El-Mokhtalat, (another of Zamalek’s past names). Encouraged by their mentor, McCrae, they arrived in Scotland in 1935 and enrolled at Jordanhill College to train as physical education teachers.

The Glasgow Rangers wanted them both but Mansour instead chose to join Queen’s Park, Scotland’s oldest club and also the only amateur team in the Scottish professional league. He even turned down the huge sum of £5,000 — equivalent to around £340,000 ($455,000 or SR1.7million) today — to turn professional.

“It was a record at the time but I did not want to play for money,” said Mansour in a BBC interview in 2002. How times have changed. 

He spent two seasons at Queen’s Park, where he was affectionately known as Tuffy, and played in almost 50 league matches and eight Cup ties. He was also a popular adult member of the 72nd Glasgow Scout Troop. 

Mansour returned to Egypt when war broke out in 1939, but his footballing career was far from over. After his playing days ended, he qualified as an international referee and then managed his old club, Al-Ahly. He was a top-ranking figure in Egyptian football and from 1958-61 he was secretary-general of the Confederation of African Football. He also served as a minister in the Egyptian government.

He died in 2002, a few weeks after the interview with the BBC and a month before his 88th birthday.

 

Mohammad Latif

Five years older than his compatriot, Mohammad Latif was from Beni Suef, south of Cairo, and by his early 20s, he was one of the best footballers in the country. His three goals against a British mandate football team during qualification rounds secured both Egypt’s place in the 1934 World Cup and Latif’s place in the squad. 

The first non-white to play for Glasgow Rangers made his first team debut on Sept. 14, 1935, the same day that Hitler addressed 54,000 people at a mass rally in Nuremberg, announcing laws against non-whites.

Unfortunately, Latif’s Rangers career did not progress well. His playing was described as “impetuous” and after that first outing, he was left out of the first team for seven months. His next game was also his last and he returned to Egypt to prepare for the 1936 Olympics in Berlin. He and Mansour both made the squad.

Latif rejoined El-Mokhtalat and continued playing for them until 1945. He moved into coaching and also attained international standard as a referee, before embarking on yet another successful career as a football commentator, achieving fame not only in Egypt but throughout the Arab world as “the sheikh of commentators.”

Mohammed Salah may have the fame and, with a reported salary of £200,000 (SR1 million) per week, he certainly has the fortune.

The names of Hegazi, Abdullah, Mansour and Latif may not echo so resoundingly through the annals of footballing history. But they were pathfinders and admirable ambassadors for Arab sportsmen. And that is a hard act to follow.


Jannik Sinner faces Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon in a rematch of their epic French Open final

Updated 13 July 2025
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Jannik Sinner faces Carlos Alcaraz at Wimbledon in a rematch of their epic French Open final

  • Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are meeting to decide the Wimbledon championship just five weeks after they played each other in an epic French Open final
  • Alcaraz won in five sets spread over 5 hours, 29 minutes in Paris, coming back from a two-set deficit and saving three match points along the way

LONDON: Jannik Sinner and Carlos Alcaraz are meeting to decide the Wimbledon championship just five weeks after they played each other in an epic French Open final.
Sunday’s matchup at Center Court between the No. 1-ranked Sinner and No. 2 Alcaraz marks the first time the same two men faced off in the title matches on the clay at Roland-Garros and the grass at the All England Club in the same year since Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal did it in 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Alcaraz, a 22-year-old from Spain, defeated Sinner, a 22-year-old from Italy, in five sets spread over 5 hours, 29 minutes in Paris on June 8, coming back from a two-set deficit and saving three match points along the way.
That made Alcaraz 5-0 in Grand Slam finals, including victories in 2023 and 2024 at Wimbledon.
He also carries a career-best 24-match winning streak into Sunday and has beaten Sinner five times in a row.
Sinner owns three major trophies and will be playing in his fourth consecutive Slam final — but first at the All England Club.
He won the US Open last September and the Australian Open this January.
Sinner has been wearing tape and an arm sleeve to protect his right elbow since falling in the opening game of his fourth-round win on Monday. After eliminating 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, Sinner said he doesn’t think his elbow will be an issue on Sunday.
Play is scheduled to begin Sunday at 4 p.m. local time, which is 11 a.m. ET.
Sinner was listed Saturday as the slight money-line favorite at -110 by BetMGM Sportsbook, with Alcaraz at -105.


Trump the football fan: US president to attend FIFA club final

Updated 13 July 2025
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Trump the football fan: US president to attend FIFA club final

  • The US president is attending the final of the FIFA Club World Cup on Sunday

BEDMINSTER, United States: Donald Trump will on Sunday showcase his unexpected attachment to a sport in which “America First” remains a dream, for now.
The US president is attending the final of the newly expanded FIFA Club World Cup in his latest use of the beautiful game as a soft power political weapon.
His appearance at the MetLife stadium in New Jersey, where Paris Saint-Germain face Chelsea, is very much a trial run for the World Cup final, which will take place in the same stadium next year.
Trump has made it clear he sees both tournaments, as well as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, as showpieces for what he calls the “Golden Age of America” during his second term.
The billionaire Republican’s close friendship with FIFA president Gianni Infantino, a frequent visitor to the White House, is also a factor in his appearance.
Trump has kept the Club World Cup trophy next to his desk in the Oval Office since Infantino dropped by in March.
But Trump’s embrace of football, or soccer as he would say, is also personal.
The president’s 19-year-old son Barron is a fan, as Infantino pointed out in a press conference at FIFA’s new office in Trump Tower in New York on Saturday.
Asked if Trump liked the game, Infantino replied: “Well I think he does. In his first term as president of the United States there was a soccer goal in the garden of the White House.
“He then explained to me that his son loved football, and that he loved the game. And of course when you are a parent, you love what your children love, so I think that he loves it.”
As a student at the New York Military Academy, Trump himself also reportedly played the game for a season.
Trump’s apparent fondness for football may seem unusual for a country where, despite growing popularity, the sport still lags behind American football, basketball and baseball.
The former reality TV star has, however, always had an eye for popularity, power and influence. And football in its own way brings all three.
Trump pointed out when Infantino visited the White House in March that the United States won the right to host the 2026 World Cup in 2018, during his first term as president.
He said he was “so sad” because he assumed he would not be president when the tournament came around — but his 2020 election loss meant that he would after all.
The FIFA Club World Cup has meanwhile proved more successful than its critics predicted, with around 2.5 million people attending games across the country and some gripping games.
Infantino, who is no stranger to dealing with hard-nosed leaders around the world, thanked Trump for his support on Saturday.
He said Trump “embraced immediately the importance of the FIFA Club World Cup, and of course of the World Cup next year.”
Infantino also joked that Trump “certainly loves as well the trophy” — whose gold-plated curves match the gilded makeover that the president has given the Oval Office.
But in typical form Trump has also mixed political controversy with his football fandom.
Hosting Italian side Juventus in the Oval Office in June, he delivered a diatribe on transgender people in sports before asking the players: “Could a woman make your team, fellas?“
Most of the players looked bemused before Juventus general manager Damien Comolli replied: “We have a very good women’s team.”
“He’s being very diplomatic,” said Trump.
Trump’s hard-line immigration crackdown — part of his “America First” policy — has meanwhile sparked fears that football fans will be discouraged from coming to the United States.
In May, Vice President JD Vance said that 2026 World Cup fans were “welcome to come... but when the time is up they will have to go home.”


Messi at the double again to lift Miami to MLS win over Nashville

Updated 13 July 2025
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Messi at the double again to lift Miami to MLS win over Nashville

  • Lionel Messi continued his historic Major League Soccer scoring run Saturday, netting two goals for the fifth game in a row to lift Inter Miami to a 2-1 victory over Nashville

MIAMI: Lionel Messi continued his historic Major League Soccer scoring run Saturday, netting two goals for the fifth game in a row to lift Inter Miami to a 2-1 victory over Nashville.
Just days after he became the first player to score multiple goals in four straight MLS matches, Messi did it again as Miami continued their climb up the Eastern Conference standings after their league hiatus for the Club World Cup.
Messi, the eight-time Ballon d’Or winner, opened the scoring in the 17th minute with a trademark left-foot free-kick, which found the only gap in Nashville’s defensive wall to go past goalkeeper Joe Willis.
Miami dominated in the first half but, just four minutes after half-time, Hany Mukhtar’s header pulled Nashville level.
Messi grabbed the winner in the 62nd minute when he capitalized on a bad mistake from Willis, who misjudged a pass to tee up the Argentine for the strike.
The two goals — on the heels of his two in a 2-1 win over New England on Wednesday — took Messi’s total to 16 in 16 appearances this season, tied with Nashville’s Sam Surridge, who was unable to add to his tally of 16 on Saturday.
“There are not many words. It’s incredible what he keeps doing, breaking records now every three days, not even every weekend,” Miami coach Javier Mascherano said.
“He is the standard-bearer of our team that shows us the way to compete. He is the leader.
“It’s a blessing for me to accompany this stage of his career.”
Miami were playing their third match since returning to MLS action in the wake of a month-long Club World Cup campaign that ended when they were eliminated in the last 16 by Paris Saint-Germain.
With 38 points from 19 matches, they are in fifth place in the East, five points behind leaders Philadelphia with three games in hand.
Philadelphia went top with a 2-0 victory over New York Red Bulls, Indiana Vassilev and Bruno Damiani delivering the goals.
Cincinnati slipped to second in the East on 42 points after falling 4-2 to Columbus. Nashville and Columbus both have 41 points.
Miami’s jam-packed schedule continues Wednesday against Cincinnati, with the New York Red Bulls coming up next weekend.
Mascherano knows he will have to find time to give the 38-year-old Messi some rest.
“At some point we are going to have to find a space to give him some rest, we are going to talk about it day by day,” he said.
“He is feeling good and when we think it is time to give him some rest, we will do it.”


Hamzah Sheeraz stops Berlanga, Shakur Stevenson defends lightweight title at home of US Open tennis

Updated 13 July 2025
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Hamzah Sheeraz stops Berlanga, Shakur Stevenson defends lightweight title at home of US Open tennis

  • The English fighter moved up in weight to make his debut at super middleweight and showed he has plenty of power for it
  • In the co-main event, Shakur Stevenson remained undefeated and defended his WBC lightweight title with a dominant performance, beating William Zepeda

NEW YORK: Hamzah Sheeraz punctuated the first boxing card held on the grounds of the US Open tennis tournament by stopping Edgar Berlanga in the fifth round Saturday night.
The English fighter moved up in weight to make his debut at super middleweight and showed he has plenty of power for it, dropping Berlanga twice in the fourth round and then pouncing quickly to start the fifth before referee David Fields stopped the fight.
Sheeraz (22-0-1, 18 KOs) has been touted as a potential opponent for 168-pound champion Canelo Alvarez and would not only deserve it but have a chance to win if if he looked as good as he did against Berlanga (23-2), who had boasted that he would have an easy night.
In the co-main event, Shakur Stevenson remained undefeated and defended his WBC lightweight title with a dominant performance, beating William Zepeda by unanimous decision.
One judge favored Stevenson 119-109, while the other two had it 118-110 for the 2016 Olympic silver medalist.
Stevenson (24-0) won just before Berlanga and Sheeraz fought in the final bout of the night in Louis Armstrong Stadium, the No. 2 venue at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center.
But it was a main event-level performance from Stevenson and the first wide victory of the night after the previous two bouts were close right to the finish.
Zepeda (33-1) landed a left hand shortly after the opening bell that drew a smile from the champion, and he was able to get inside a number of times to unload a series of shots at Stevenson. But he was often powerless to stop the flurries that were coming back at him from Stevenson’s hand speed that is up at the top of boxing.
The Ring Magazine held its second fight card in New York after staging one in Times Square in May. Tickets weren’t sold then and just a few hundred people were able to see it, creating an atmosphere where the scene was impressive but the sounds were almost non-existent, leaving fighters to say it felt like a sparring session.
This time, seats were sold and many were occupied well into the second deck of the 14,000-seat stadium, which had its retractable roof closed to create comfortable conditions on a humid day.
And the fans saw good action early in a brilliant performance from Stevenson, who has been criticized at times for a style that that seems too dependent on avoiding pain and not dishing it out.
But he seemed happy to trade Saturday and most times came out ahead when he did.
Zepeda did trap Stevenson in a corner to score with some shots in the third round, bringing his Mexican fans out of their seats, but many other times Stevenson’s quick head movement allowed him to dodge potential trouble. By the middle of the fight, Stevenson was firing off two, three, sometimes four unreturned shots
There was a title change in the previous fight, when Subriel Matias (23-2) edged Alberto Puello (24-1) by majority decision to take the WBC’s 140-pound belt.
Before that, Cuban David Morrell (12-1) got up from a fifth-round knockdown to rally late and edge Imam Khataev (10-1) by split decision in a light heavyweight bout.


Crawley’s last-over ‘theatrics’ against India spark time-wasting row at Lord’s

Updated 13 July 2025
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Crawley’s last-over ‘theatrics’ against India spark time-wasting row at Lord’s

LONDON: England and India accused each other of sharp practice after Zak Crawley’s conduct at Lord’s on Saturday drew an angry reaction from visiting captain Shubman Gill.
India ought to have been able to bowl two overs late in the third day’s play of the third Test after being dismissed for 387 — exactly level with England’s first-innings total.
Crawley, however, ensured there were only six deliveries from Jasprit Bumrah before stumps by twice withdrawing from his stance and then calling for the physio after the fifth ball appeared to make only minimal contact with his glove.
Tempers flared as it became evident India would not be able to bowl another over before the close, with host broadcaster Sky Sports issuing an on-air apology after a stump microphone picked up Gill swearing angrily at Crawley.
Crawley and Gill jabbed fingers at each other as they exchanged choice words, with Ben Duckett, England’s other opener, also getting involved.
Tim Southee, England’s bowling consultant, suggested Gill was guilty of double standards after delaying the end of the hosts’ innings to receive treatment on the second day, while India all-rounder Washington Sundar also held up proceedings for what appeared to be a comfort break while batting.
“I’m not sure what they were complaining about when Gill was lying down getting a massage in the middle of the day yesterday,” Southee told reporters after stumps on Saturday.
“It’s obviously part of the game. It’s always exciting to see both sides animated toward the end and it was an exciting way to finish the day. It was good to see energy from both sides.”
The former New Zealand paceman, asked about Crawley’s fitness, gave a deadpan reply by saying: “He’ll be assessed overnight. Hopefully he’ll be alright to carry on tomorrow .”
India opener KL Rahul, who scored his 10th Test century and second at Lord’s on Saturday, was far from shocked by Crawley’s behavior.
“Two overs is a no-brainer with six minutes to go,” he said. “But it was a bit of theatrics at the end.
“I know exactly what was going on; everyone knows exactly what was going on. But an opening batter will understand completely what happened in the last five minutes.”
Meanwhile, former England captain turned BBC pundit Michael Vaughan had no qualms about the flare-up.
“It’s as good a piece of time-wasting as I’ve ever seen,” he said. “India can’t complain because yesterday Gill was down with the hamstring strain... But what great drama and what a great day.”