Legendary former Al Ahly coach Manuel Jose is concerned that Egyptian youth are losing their passion for football due to the ongoing stadium ban that has been in place for domestic competitions for most of the past six years.
A stadium riot in Port Said in February 2012 during a game between Al Ahly and Al Masry left 74 people dead and fans have been unable to attend games regularly ever since. A partial lifting of the ban was announced two months ago but it only allowed 300 fans into league games.
Jose, who was in Dubai last week for the launch of the Wadi Degla Football Academy, of which he is the technical advisor, is hoping to create a new generation of young players that have a different mentality and possess burning passion for the sport.
While Mohamed Salah has been an unrivaled inspirational figure for all Egyptians, Jose notes that there are few young role models in football for the upcoming generation to look up to.
“We want these kids to be modern type of football players,” the Portuguese retired coach said at the academy launch at Al Wasl Club.
“Egypt nowadays has a problem. The government is trying to open the stadium doors to the fans.
“These days, kids don’t go to the stadiums with their parents. And that means that this passion for football will start to die. We have to produce new players with a different mentality.
“We need the stadiums to open their doors, put politics to one side, and allow people to go watch matches live. These days kids only watch football on TV.
“The golden generation in Egyptian football has gone. I won with these players, Egypt won with these players, and now the only famous stars are Mohamed Salah, and in Egypt, Abdallah El Said, more or less.
“[Mahmoud] Trezeguet is young, Ramadan Sobhi, they are young. What do you want more? Hadary? Hadary is in the museum now with Ramses II,” he said of the 45-year-old veteran goalkeeper.
“What do these kids see? A match on TV. I can’t see a live football match for 15 minutes in a stadium. On TV they watch Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City or PSG or Bayern Munich. The big stars only.
“I’ll give you an example. Write this. Championships finished in Egypt in March, at the end of last month. The next time you can watch another championship is in seven months, in October. It’s unbelievable.”
Wadi Degla is the first club from Egypt to bring an academy to the UAE. Operations will start at two locations — JSS International School in Dubai and Ajyal Sports Centre in Sharjah.
