Egyptian Football Association

• 1. Introduction

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  The Egyptian Football Association was founded on the 3rd of December 1921, but the story of how it came to exist stretches back nearly four decades earlier, to a time when Egypt was under British occupation and football was something Egyptian youth watched from the sidelines. That gap between spectator and player, between foreign game and national pride, is what the EFA was built to close.

  By 1921, the federation had a president, a treasurer, a secretary, and a constitution. It had headquarters in Cairo and authority over clubs from Alexandria to Port Said. It would go on to join FIFA in 1923 and become a founding member of the Confederation of African Football. Its home today sits at 5 El-Gabalaya Street in Gezira, Cairo. But none of that was guaranteed. The road from a neighborhood kickabout in the streets of Cairo to a nationally recognized governing body ran through revolts, rival federations, and a question that would follow Egyptian football for generations: who, exactly, gets to play?

• 2. A Game Takes Root

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  Modern football arrived in Egypt in 1882, carried by British occupation forces who stationed themselves in Cairo, Alexandria, and the cities along the Suez Canal. Egyptian youth who gathered to watch those early matches did not stay on the sidelines for long. They moved from spectators to players in the streets of those same cities.

  By 1895, the game had grown enough that Cairo's football fields hosted what the source describes as the first Egypt national football team. Mohamed Effendi Nashid led that side, which lined up against British army teams and included Ahmed Rifaat, Mohamed Khairy, and the Gibril brothers. Their aim was explicit: to lift football from a neighborhood activity to a national one.

  The first formal competition came when the newspaper Al-Impressiali donated a cup bearing its name to the winner of a tournament among foreign community teams. That tournament lasted a single season and was taken by the Hockey Club of Bulaq, also known as the Railway club. In 1908, Angelo Polanki, a man of Greek nationality selected by the International Olympic Committee to represent Egypt, founded the Mixed Federation of Sports Clubs in Alexandria. That body had seven members of various nationalities. None of them were Egyptian.

• 3. Rebellion and the Sultan's Cup

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  In 1913, the Mixed Federation organized a competition across Alexandria and Cairo clubs, with a medal depicting Alexander the Great awarded to the winner. Egyptian clubs refused to take part. They opted instead for friendly matches among themselves, rejecting the federation's authority over their game.

  The split widened in 1916. On the 5th of May that year, a team composed of Egypt's top players faced the British Armed Forces at the Zamalek SC stadium and won 4-2. The Egyptian lineup included Mahmoud Marei in goal, Ibrahim Othman and Mohamed El-Selhadar in defense, and an attack built around Hussein Fawzy, Kamel Abdel Rabbo, Taha Farghal, Abbas Safwat, and Nicola Arqji.

  That victory sharpened the push for an independent Egyptian body. On Monday, the 11th of September 1916, Egyptian and British representatives met at the Egyptian Mail newspaper, joined by 50 delegates from clubs in Cairo, Alexandria, Port Said, and Tanta. Written approval came from clubs in Beni Suef, Sharqia, and Mansoura. Out of that meeting came the first major national competition: the Sultan Hussein Cup, a gift from Sultan Hussein Kamel, open to both Egyptian and foreign teams. The early success of that tournament spread the game further and faster than any previous effort had managed.

• 4. The 1919 Revolution's Ripple

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  Egypt's 1919 revolution against British occupation did not leave football untouched. Nationalist figures who had been working within a mixed, multi-national sporting framework now pushed to put the game fully in Egyptian hands.

  On the 14th of September 1919, Ibrahim Allam and Hussein Hegazi sent out the first formal invitation to discuss what they called the Egyptianization of football. The meeting they proposed was set for Tuesday, the 16th of September 1919, at the Cairo office of lawyer Ahmed Bey Lotfi in Opera Square.

  Two years of committee work followed. By the summer of 1921, those efforts had produced a draft constitution and competition regulations. The federation that was formally established on the 3rd of December 1921 included Jaafar Wali Pasha as its first president, Fouad Abaza Bey as vice president, Youssef Effendi Mohamed as secretary, and Ismail Effendi Sirry as treasurer. Among the founding members were Ibrahim Allam, who had co-signed that 1919 invitation, and Nicola Arqaji, who had played in the 1916 match against the British. The first management committee met at the Agricultural Club in Opera Square before moving through a series of Cairo addresses, eventually settling at Gezira.

• 5. Inclusion and Exclusion

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  Christians make up roughly 5-9% of Egypt's population, with the majority belonging to the Coptic Orthodox Church. Reports and formal complaints from groups including Coptic Solidarity have alleged that Coptic Christians have been systematically excluded from both the national football team and Egypt's Olympic squads.

  The source notes that no Coptic members currently sit on the national team, though it also names Hany Ramzy as a notable Christian player from the past. Prominent Coptic families remain involved at the ownership level: the Sawiris family, for instance, owns El Gouna FC and ZED FC.

  Coptic Solidarity filed a complaint with the International Olympic Committee regarding exclusion from Olympic teams, mirroring similar concerns raised about the football setup. Neither FIFA nor the IOC has opened investigations into these claims. The EFA, which has jurisdiction over the full Egyptian football league system and is responsible for both the men's and women's national teams, has not publicly responded to these allegations as described in the source.

• 6. Honoring the Game

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  Since 2000, the EFA has handed out annual awards recognizing the season's standout players, coaches, and goalkeepers. Mohamed Aboutrika of Al Ahly SC is the most decorated recipient in the Player of the Year category, claiming the award four consecutive times from 2005 through 2008.

  The goalkeeper award has been dominated by Al Ahly players across its history. Essam El Hadary won in the 2001-02 season, and Mohamed El Shenawy claimed the prize in 2022-23 and again in 2024-25. The earliest recorded Player of the Year winner is Hassan Shehata of Zamalek SC, who received the honor in 1976, more than two decades before the next recorded award.

  On the coaching side, Marcel Koller of Al Ahly SC won back-to-back Coach of the Year awards in 2022-23 and 2023-24, before Krunoslav Jurcic of Pyramids FC took the prize in 2024-25. The EFA also tracks the Best Player Abroad category; Mido, playing for Ajax, won that award in both 2002 and 2003. Ibrahim Adel of Pyramids FC claimed the Young Player of the Year award in 2021-22 and again in 2022-23, making him among the more recent names to win consecutive honors.