CAIRO, 05 June 2026: Egyptian football is finally back on the biggest stage in the world. The team is coming in with a lot of national pride, but honestly, everyone is tired after a very long season, and fans are already expressing their opinions about the players chosen for the squad.
A Nation Holding Its Breath
After a crazy year of domestic and African football—with some great wins, some really frustrating losses, and the exact kind of drama you only see in Egyptian football—everyone is now looking at the national team. The Pharaohs are ready for their fourth-ever World Cup. For millions of fans, whatever happens next will show if this football season was a success or a total failure.
The goal is very simple to say, but historically impossible for us to do:just win one single match. Egypt has never done it. Not in 1934, not in 1990, and definitely not in 2018.
Until now, our best moment in the World Cup was a 1–1 draw against the Netherlands back in Italy '90 (and they were the champions of Europe at the time). That was nice, sure, but a real win? That is still a dream we’ve been waiting for foralmost a hundred years.
This time, people really believe we can pass the first round. The draw was good for us. Egypt is in Group G with Belgium, New Zealand, and Iran. With the new system of 48 teams, the top two from each group go through, plus the best eight teams that finish third. With a group like this, Egypt has no excuse to go home early.
The Coach: A Legend with a Lot of Pressure
The man in charge is Hossam Hassan. Everyone in Egypt knows him—he is the top scorer in the history of the national team (69 goals), he won the Africa Cup of Nations three times as a player (1986, 1998, 2006), and he was actually playing on the pitch in the World Cup in 1990. He knows exactly what it feels like because he was there.
But even though he was a legendary player, he hasn't won a big trophy as a coach yet. In the last Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, Egypt finished fourth. It was okay, but it wasn't a trophy. This World Cup is his biggest chance to prove he is a great coach, just like he was a great player.
To be fair, his numbers with the team are good: 19 wins, 8 draws, and only 3 losses in 30 games. The team scored 44 goals and only took 17. Those are good numbers. But the real test is the World Cup. That is what everyone will judge him on.
The Squad: Stars, Surprises, and One Big Name Left Out
Of course, Mohamed Salah is leading the 26-man squad. No surprises there—Salah is Egyptian football. After nine amazing years at Liverpool, he just left the club, and now he is carrying the dreams of the whole country on his back again.
Everyone is excited to see how Salah will play with Omar Marmoush. Marmoush has been doing great with Frankfurt and Manchester City. He scored eight goals this season, which is really good because it’s hard to get playing time in a team like City.
Then there is the story everyone is talking about: 18-year-old striker Hamza Abdel Karim. He belongs to Al Ahly but is currently playing for Barcelona’s B team in Spain. If you talk to football fans at 2 AM, half of them think calling up a teenager from a reserve team is a genius move, and the other half think it's a huge risk.
But let’s be honest: in Egypt, people talk more about the players who didn't make the list than the ones who did.
Leaving out Mostafa Mohamed—the Nantes striker who is usually our best finisher—made everyone angry and confused. DroppingMohamed Shehata, who played in the last Africa Cup of Nations, was another big surprise. And leaving out Pyramids' goalkeeper Ahmed El-Shenawy? No one understands that decision. Mohamed El-Shenawy from Al Ahly is there, so we have a Shenawy, just not the two of them like people expected.
The Group: A Real Chance
Let’s be real about Group G. Playing against Belgium, New Zealand, and Iran is not a "Group of Death." It’s a very normal group.
Egypt starts against Belgium on June 15 in Seattle, after playing a friendly match against Brazil on June 6 in Ohio. The Belgium game is the hardest one, even if they aren't as scary as their 2018 team. But Iran and New Zealand are games Egypt must win. If we lose points there, the fans back home will be furious.
The Dates:
The Main Ideas Behind Hossam Hassan’s Tactics:
Tactical Discipline: He likes to close every single space on the pitch so the other team cannot breathe. He gives his midfielders and wingers very strict jobs to track back and help the defenders all the time.
Transitions: When the team wins the ball, he wants them to move from defense to attack in just a few quick passes. He loves to use the speed of his wingers and backline vision to surprise the opponent.
Set Pieces: He spends a lot of time working on corners and free kicks, both for scoring and defending. He sees them as a great weapon to score when the other team is just defending deep.
Motivation: Everyone knows him for his shouting and high energy on the touchline. He knows exactly how to motivate the players to give 100% on the pitch, but he always demands perfect discipline.
Season Wrap-up That Brought Pharaohs Here
To understand the mood around this squad, you need the full picture of what Egyptian football went through in 2025/26:
What the Fans Really Want
Egyptian fans are not easy to please. They love football, they know everything about tactics, they always argue, and they can celebrate a win while still complaining about how the team played.
But if you forget all the talk, what they want from this World Cup is very simple:
Just win one game. Please. Only one.
If we can do that, passing the first round—something Egypt has never done—will be a massive celebration in the streets of Cairo. And if Salah, in what might be his last World Cup, can score a goal or two, it will be a summer we will never forget.
The players are good. The group is not impossible. The coach wants to win. And because the games are in America, the Egyptians living there will make the stadiums sound like they are playing at home. It has been 92 years since Egypt played its first World Cup match. 2026 has to be the year we finally change history.
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