This article was originally published by Gkbichara on Substack
Now that the dust has settled, I think it’s time to start thinking about tomorrow, the day after, and the days after that. If we want to be taken seriously as a footballing nation, we should use this momentum to build something special. We can’t fix Egyptian football in the next week, but we can definitely take some steps in the right direction.
Where do we start?
The simplest solution is to look a bit west. A big, big part of Morocco’s success can be attributed to the use of dual-citizenship players. In their famous 2022 QF win against Portugal, 7 of 11 starters were born abroad, around 63% (17/23 in the squad). Of the squad that finished runner-up* in AFCON 2025, 14/28 were born abroad. Their most recent World Cup squad comprised 26 players, 19 of whom were born abroad. There’s clearly a pattern here that is hard to ignore. Dual-citizen players are not a weakness or a sign that you’re failing to produce players. As we can see in Morocco, it’s the driver of their footballing revolution. This strategic planning and scouting of dual nationals even bleeds down to their youth teams, who have also seen much success in recent years.
The simplest solution is to look a bit west. A big, big part of Morocco’s success can be attributed to the use of dual-citizenship players. In their famous 2022 QF win against Portugal, 7 of 11 starters were born abroad, around 63% (17/23 in the squad). Of the squad that finished runner-up* in AFCON 2025, 14/28 were born abroad. Their most recent World Cup squad comprised 26 players, 19 of whom were born abroad. There’s clearly a pattern here that is hard to ignore. Dual-citizen players are not a weakness or a sign that you’re failing to produce players. As we can see in Morocco, it’s the driver of their footballing revolution. This strategic planning and scouting of dual nationals even bleeds down to their youth teams, who have also seen much success in recent years.
Some of the players’ birthplaces were not easily found online, but these numbers are close to the truth.
U20 World Cup: Champions (7/11 starters born abroad)
AFCON U23: Champions (~11/21 born abroad)
AFCON U17: Champions (~12/21 born abroad)
2024 Olympic Games: 3rd (~12/23 born abroad)
This success didn’t just come from the head coach calling up players and asking them to hop on a plane next week, but from meticulous planning and organization. What started as calling up people who are eligible but not good enough to play for big nations like France and the Netherlands has transformed into players choosing Morocco on their own. Ayyoub Bouaddi – who is currently being linked to 100 million euro moves to the Prem – has chosen to represent Morocco at just 18, despite being almost guaranteed a starting role for France in the coming years. Again, his choice of Morocco is not a stroke of luck but the result of years and years of preparation. How did they achieve this? Morocco operates one of the world’s most sophisticated scouting networks across Europe to find these dual nationals. They talk to dual nationals from a young age, build relationships with their families, and give them a detailed pathway to reaching the senior team. Like a line of dominoes, it needed a first push. What started off with the “scraps” of the European teams led to one of the hottest prospects in world football representing Morocco on the biggest stage. Credit where it is due, the Moroccan FA has played this game perfectly and has set them up for a long time.
However, there is an argument that this sort of recruitment is unsustainable, and I agree. There are also cases where it only leads to short-term success. Look at Algeria post-2014 (16/23 players in the squad born in France). Bar the 2019 AFCON (not to downplay the achievement, as it is a very hard trophy to win), they have trickled away from being one of the continent’s top dogs. Seen as one of the stronger teams in Africa, and Egypt’s nightmare for a period, Algeria became just another team.
You cannot rely solely on players born abroad and expect them to eventually pick Morocco. Any nation has to produce players locally and invest in its infrastructure, which Morocco did. The Mohamed VI Academy – the most famous academy in Africa – received funding of around 33 million euros, and despite being founded in 2009 (which is really young in footballing terms), the academy has already produced three very notable graduates: Azzedine Ounahi, Nayef Aguerd and Youssef En-Nesyri. With these recent successes at senior and youth levels, I have no doubt there will be more to follow soon. Player development and resource allocation are much more complex topics and are above my pay grade; maybe we can revisit them later.
For the sake of this article, I will focus on dual citizens and the benefits they can bring.
A solution?
Decades of neglecting the Egyptian diaspora around the world, particularly in Europe, seemed to disappear when Haissem Hassan came on against Australia. Direct, efficient, and dangerous are only some of the words one can use to describe him. He came on and completely changed the game, while also showing us what can happen if we tap into the pool of players like him. Unfortunately, local youth development is behind that of the better European academies, and he showed just that. For those who don’t know, Haissem is not just a random player who wasn’t good enough for France. He was a very highly tipped young player who represented France at the U-17 World Cup in Brazil in 2019, helping them finish in third place. Even in Football Manager (FM), he was rated as Villarreal’s hottest prospect until FM22. His career has not panned out the way most people thought it would, which is why he is where he is, both internationally and at club level. This tangent wasn’t just to praise Haissem but to explain that he isn’t your average player who came up through the French youth ranks.
Back to the original point, with Haissem, we saw a player with an entirely different skill set that set him apart from the rest of the squad (bar Salah and Marmoush). He is a player with much better fundamentals. He knows when to run at you and when not to, when to tuck in and when to stretch the pitch. On a technical level, the ball stays much closer to his feet when dribbling; he receives the ball and is able to touch it down where he wants it. Yes, the sample size was only ~120 minutes, and yes, this is probably some of the best football he has played in a significant amount of time, but these are tools that you can tell the rest of the squad just simply did not have. The lack of options to change/kill off a game has cost African teams throughout this tournament and, unfortunately, is an issue we ran into against Argentina as well. Players who can raise the technical level of the squad would have undoubtedly improved the team, and maybe helped us ease the pressure we were facing at the end of the game. It is no coincidence that once Emam and Haissem got injured against Messi and co. – our two biggest relievers of pressure – we started to crumble. We need more players of that calibre, and that is not something Egypt produces.
Mohannad Lasheen is a good example of this. He had a great tournament, and none of what follows is an attack on him. The problem isn’t Lasheen; it’s that Egypt keeps producing his archetype and not the technically sound one. In an ideal world, he doesn’t start. Against Argentina, sure, we need the defensive ability and the work rate, but against New Zealand that is not the case. Playing him and Marwan Attia in the same midfield when the odds are in our favour is not good enough. He is a great option off the bench, whether it’s to kill off a game or chase one, but we need more on-the-ball quality in our midfielders.
So what now?
Just call up every foreign-born player?
Leave all Egyptian League players at home? Not at all. What I love the most about our national team is the sense of identity, the pride I have in watching people who grew up in the same country as me, speak the same language, sing the national anthem with passion. I would never change that in a million years, and I want to keep a majority of the squad as people who are either playing in Egypt, or have spent a big chunk of their life there. We saw in our game against Ivory Coast how shaken they were by our hunger. Centre backs who play for Roma and Atalanta were completely outshone by Marmoush. Midfielders who spent their entire careers in Europe were dominated by Attia and Fathi. Why? They simply wanted it more. Them playing at a lower level means that the National Team for them is the highest peak they’ll reach, and as a result no one wants to win more than them.
Which is why I propose calling up six to eight per squad, in place of the players who never participate. Imagine having an imposing No. 6 or another Emam-esque profile off the bench in the World Cup instead of Dunga, whose role seemed to be the dressing-room DJ. Would that have helped the squad? Yes. Would that disrupt the identity and culture in the dressing room? No. An upgrade on the pitch is needed. But also, I think they should only be there if they want to be there. The FA calls them, lays out the plan, and if they aren’t convinced, so be it. We will lose out on some talent, but more importantly we will keep that culture alive. Over the next 20 or so months, it is crucial to get the ball rolling and naturalize some of these players ASAP. I would keep the squad mostly as it is for the next AFCON, with some minor adjustments here and there, but do this more so for AFCON 2028 and the Olympics (and the World Cup too but four years is a very long time in football).
The following are players who should be our biggest priorities, due to a mix of their potential (from what I have read) and their profiles.
Mohamed Elbay, 18, RB, Club Brugge
Belgium U18 International, UEFA Youth League Finalist, already made 9 appearances (4 starts) for their B team in the second division of Belgium
Younes Ibrahim, 18, AM, Brighton
Brighton U18, good at set pieces, recently signed his first professional contract
Rayan Abo El Nay, 19, CM, PSG
Played for PSG in UEFA Youth League, trained with the first team a handful of times, linked with a move to Rio Ave
Tebo Gabriel, 20, DM, Mainz
Played for Egypt’s U20 at the World Cup, imposing figure at 187cm, can deputize at CB, supposed to be playing for Mainz’s B team next year. No midfielder of the sort for us
Alvin Ayman, 18, DM, Liverpool
Liverpool U18, can deputize at LB. Less hype than his move two years ago, but his versatility in two key positions we need is worth keeping an eye on
I know Haissem’s appearances don’t make up for years of not calling up more-than-deserving dual nationals, but it’s a step in the right direction, and we have to cement it by adding more. We saw how well he has taken to being in the squad, the overwhelming support from the team and fans, and surely this is inspiring the next generation. The next hurdle is how young players get treated once they arrive. Hamza Abdelkarim showed us that if you’re good enough, you’re old enough. Also, his appearance in the squad clearly helped his reputation, as seen by his participation in the FC Barcelona first-team preseason camp. An argument could be made that these players joining Egypt’s camp could speed up their development at club level. Any worry about culture and identity can also be taken care of. Language barrier? Offer them language courses and constant communication if they are committed to the project. The common sentiment is that Egyptians abroad have a much stronger connection to home than those of most other diaspora communities, which I have also seen firsthand. Egyptians always love Egypt, and that is something we have to take advantage of.
I know this is much easier said than done – and that it will take a lot of time and effort to properly put into practice – but what better time to start than today? I hope the FA doesn’t rest on their laurels and keep the motto of “don’t fix what’s not broken” and start proactively preparing for the next four years. Mohamed Salah has dragged Egyptian football out of its darkest period and set us up for what could be one of its better ones, but it is up to those in charge to honour his legacy and sacrifices.