‘It was a disaster’: Egypt women's football team reaches tipping point after Wafcon humiliation
Not long after the Egyptian national team returned from an impressive World Cup campaign to a massive reception and countrywide fanfare last month, Egypt’s Cleopatras flew to Morocco to participate in the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon), looking to keep the celebrations going. But while the men made history in North America by reaching the last 16 and narrowly losing to defending champions…
The Egyptian women's national football team, known as the Cleopatras, reached a critical juncture following their humiliating performance at the Women's Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) in Morocco. Despite the Egyptian national team's impressive World Cup run, the women's team faced three heavy defeats, conceding 15 goals and scoring just three, ultimately being eliminated from the group stage.
This marked Egypt's third appearance in the competition, their first since 2016, and their only appearance since being invited due to being one of the four highest-ranked sides eliminated in the final round of qualifying.
Egypt, a football-mad nation with a population of 120 million, has struggled to allocate sufficient attention and resources to its women's team in comparison to the men's team. The national team has been formed and disbanded multiple times over the past two decades, lacking structure and strategy to develop it. However, in recent years, increased funding and pressure from the Confederation of African Football (CAF) led to the expansion of the domestic league, providing more opportunities for women's football.
Prior to Wafcon, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) invested resources into the women's team, including setting up friendly games, training camps, and bringing back former manager Mohamed Kamal to take charge of the Cleopatras. Despite Kamal's efforts and the EFA's financial support, the team's performance at Wafcon was poor.
Critics, including Sarah Essam, the first Egyptian player to play professional football in England and Spain, accused Kamal of favoritism, a lack of professionalism, creating division among players, and adding unqualified individuals to the roster.
Essam, who had never spared any effort for Egypt since being called up at the age of 14, expressed her disappointment and frustration in a passionate social media post following the team's return from Morocco. She alleged that Kamal would ask players for gifts in exchange for playing time and promised minutes to unqualified players at the expense of others.
Essam emphasized that the Egyptian national team deserved a professional environment built on fairness, equality, and merit, rather than the chaos that had unfolded during the Wafcon campaign.
Written by urgent.news from The National UAE's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
