Mustafa Azzam, Secretary-General of the Football Association, revealed the reason for announcing the formation of a committee to renew the contract of Hossam Hassan, the national team’s technical director, as well as the reason for selecting Shawky Gharib as technical director of the Football Association.
Azzam clarified in statements to CBC channel: “The board of the association announced the renewal of Hossam Hassan’s contract before returning from the United States of America, but the committee was formed to settle the detailed terms.”
The Secretary-General of the association added, “Captain Hossam Hassan has demands, and the decision within the association is not individual; we want to provide ideal conditions to build on the achievement that was accomplished.”
He affirmed, “The committee is not for renewing the contract, but for setting the detailed terms of the contract; however, the decision to renew is a foregone conclusion.”
In response to the fact that there is a dispute over the selection of assistants for the national team’s technical staff, Azzam replied, “The technical director chooses his deputies and assistants, which is what we do even with the technical staffs of the youth and junior teams.”
He continued, “Wael Riyad, Ahmed Al-Kas, and Hussein Abdel Latif all chose their assistants; therefore, no one will impose any person on the technical staff alongside Hossam Hassan.”
In response to calls for Islam Issa and Mohamed Hamdi to receive World Cup bonuses, he said, “The bonus regulations are approved by the Ministry of Youth and Sports according to the announced list of traveling players, and we decided that the substitute player receives the same bonus as the starter.”
He explained, “Ibrahim Hassan, the team manager, has the authority to add bonuses, and if that is proposed, the board of directors will discuss it; I do not think it will be opposed.”
In response to the criticisms against Shawky Gharib, the new technical director of the association, Azzam said, “Arsène Wenger worked as a coach and rose to become the technical director of the International Federation of Association Football (FIFA).”
He continued, “I do not evaluate any individual, but looking at Shawky Gharib, who succeeded in winning Egypt’s bronze medal at the Youth World Cup, was part of the Egyptian national team’s technical staff in the 2006, 2008, and 2010 tournaments, coached the Olympic team, captained the Egyptian national team, and has more than 35 years of experience in football, which qualifies him as an expert with accumulated expertise in his field exceeding 20 years.”
Regarding the file for selecting the technical director of the Olympic team, he said, “Shawky Gharib, the new technical director of the association, will begin the file for selecting the technical director of the Olympic team and present his vision to the board of directors for discussion.”
Concluding his remarks on the proposal to increase the number of clubs in African competitions, Azzam explained, “I received instructions from the president of the association a week after the start of the World Cup to send an official letter to CAF with a proposal to increase the number of Egyptian clubs in African competitions.”
He added, “Six days ago, I received a letter from the Secretary-General of CAF informing me that the proposal had been carefully studied, but there are logistical and organizational conditions regarding the competition, and it will be considered for implementation starting next season.”
He concluded his remarks, “The proposal was not rejected, but the door was closed to the idea of implementation this season; the reason is the postponement of the deadline for sending the participating clubs to Africa until July 25, which caused problems with changing the identity of the clubs and thus affected the decision, leading to its postponement to the following season.”
