Thursday 25 November 2021, 08:00

FIFA President inaugurates Eqypt Football Association headquarters

FIFA President Gianni Infantino, in the presence of CAF President Patrice Motsepe, FIFA Council member Hani Abou Rida, and Ahmed Megahed, President of the Egyptian Football Association (EFA), inaugurated the new headquarters of the Egyptian Football Association. The FIFA President also met with the Minister of Youth and Sports, Ashraf Sobhy.

FIFA President meets with Hani Abou Rida and the Egyptian Minister of Youth and Sports, Ashraf Sobhy.

The opening ceremony was attended by members of the CAF Assembly, as well as by former members of the Board of Directors of the Egyptian Federation and a number of Egyptian football stars. On the sidelines of the opening, an exhibition match, in which a number of guests, including the FIFA President participated. The Egyptian Federation decided in 2016, headed by Hany Abou Rida, to build a centre for the national teams and a new headquarters for the Egyptian Federation, Work was launched at the beginning of the year 2017.

In his speech during the opening ceremony, Ahmed Megahed, President of the Egyptian Federation, stressed that this event was a celebration of the centenary of the founding of the Egyptian Federation, and that Egyptian football is now looking forward to the next 100 years.

He said, "Today, we stand proudly, as we are on the threshold of the second hundred years in the history of the Egyptian Federation, armed with all the tools that the modern world needs." In his speech, the President of the Egyptian Federation saluted everyone who contributed to the completion of this huge project, from national institutions, to FIFA.

FIFA president Gianni Infantino, speaking to media after the event, praised Egyptian football while also applauding its icon Mohamed Salah. Salah’s performances this year earned him a place among the top players in the world as he is nominated for FIFA’s The Best Men’s Player of the Year award. The ceremony for the award is set to take place in Zürich, Switzerland on the 17th of January, 2022. “Not only 110 million Egyptians are rooting for Salah, but 450 million Arabs are also hoping he wins the award [FIFA’s The Best Men’s Player of the Year],” Infantino said.

“Mohamed Salah is a football legend, Egypt has seen a lot of football legends, but Salah has taken a different path and he started it early in Switzerland. I wish him the best of luck. “There are 110 million people in Egypt that love the sport. When I meet Egyptians around the world they always tell me they love football. I am a big fan of both Egyptian football and culture, and now we are celebrating the EFA which was founded 100 years ago. That means celebrating 100 years of African football and 100 years of legends.”