And Egypt goes to World Cup 26 “But in a quieter way”

Egypt recorded a 3–0 victory over Djibouti, a result that confirmed their qualification for the 2026 FIFA World Cup to be held next year in Canada, the United States, and Mexico — inshallah.

Ibrahim Adel opened the scoring early on, while Mohamed Salah added two goals to seal the win.

I write this without the same enthusiasm I had in October 2017, when Egypt qualified for the first time in 28 years for the World Cup in Russia 2018. In fact, it feels quite the opposite.

Mohamed Salah and Ibrahim Adel's foot on knee in a tree yoga pose
became the iconic photo of Egypt's World Cup 2026 qualifier match 

Starting with myself: yours truly is a football fan, and yet I didn’t even know that Egypt had a match on Wednesday — let alone that it was a World Cup qualifier being played in Morocco, even if it was against a weak team like Djibouti (with all due respect).

 Had I known, I wouldn’t have gone out on errands and would have kept up my tradition of watching the match.

In the streets — even in the bustling market areas — nothing hinted that a major game or a World Cup qualifier was taking place. There were no flag sellers stationed at traffic lights and squares, waiting for the rush of fans as they used to on big match days.
There were no crowds of men and boys gathered in local cafés watching the game with their friends.

Most cafés were nearly empty. I came back home, went out again to finish errands, and the atmosphere remained unchanged — just a normal Wednesday evening, with families and schoolchildren trudging home, trying to make it through Thursday, our favorite day — the day before the weekend.

It’s worth noting that Thursday is practically a day off, as the government declared Thursday, October 9, an official paid holiday to mark Armed Forces Day, commemorating the October 6, 1973, War victory. The government has recently adopted a policy of shifting midweek public holidays to Thursdays to create long weekends.

In other times, the streets would have been alive — boys and men celebrating until morning, knowing the next day was a holiday.

I only learned that Egypt had won from President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s tweet congratulating the national team.

أتوجه بأصدق التهاني إلى أبطال منتخبنا الوطني لكرة القدم بمناسبة التأهل المستحق إلى بطولة كأس العالم ٢٠٢٦، التي ستُقام في الولايات المتحدة الأمريكية وكندا والمكسيك.
لقد أدخلتم الفرحة في قلوب المصريين الذين تابعوا مسيرتكم بكل فخر واعتزاز، وأثبتّم أن الإصرار والعزيمة طريق الإنجاز.…

— Abdelfattah Elsisi (@AlsisiOfficial) October 8, 2025

Needless to say, this qualification has been counted among the President’s achievements — that Egypt has now qualified twice under his tenure — even though he doesn’t seem to be much of a football fan thanks to his fans.

Many Egyptians, myself included, had the same reaction when the news popped up as a phone notification: surprise, followed by indifference the surprise. "That's my tweet, check its quotes and replies" 

جماعة انا نزلت الشارع ثلاث مرات و ده مش شارع مصري وقت ماتش تاهل

— Zeinobia 🎙️📷📓🍉 (@Zeinobia) October 8, 2025

Then came a completely silent night — no car horns blaring in celebration across Egypt’s major squares.

For the record, I did find one video reportedly filmed in New Cairo showing a small group of young people celebrating in a strip mall — and that was about it.

Online, many Egyptians shared the same sentiment: What happened to us? Why aren’t we celebrating such a big victory?

Some argue that Egyptians weren’t over the moon simply because we knew we would win — with all due respect to Djibouti. But I disagree. This is the World Cup. We didn’t even qualify last time, for heaven’s sake.

Others insist that die-hard Egyptian football fans didn’t celebrate because everyone knew we were already bound to qualify, thanks to FIFA’s new rules that made it easier for teams like ours to advance. The 2026 World Cup will include 48 teams, so most strong and popular national teams have already secured their tickets to North America.

Still, I’m not convinced.

It’s not because Egyptians are preoccupied with the Gaza ceasefire talks taking place in Sharm El-Sheikh. Even before Trump’s announcement on Wednesday, many didn’t even know that Egypt was hosting those talks.

I don’t have a clear explanation for what happened on Wednesday. But I do know this: I want to see Egyptian football fans back in the streets celebrating big victories again — because that’s who we are. That’s Egypt.

I fear something has been broken.

Now, I’m sorry for the rant — but truthfully, I’m happy that Egypt is heading to the World Cup, even knowing that with the expanded format and larger number of teams, our national team might be coming home after just two games.

Still, there are some non-trivial reasons to feel proud this time.

This marks Egypt’s fourth appearance at the World Cup. The first was in 1934, the second in 1990, the third in 2018, and now the fourth — inshallah — in 2026.

Team coach Hossam Hassan has achieved a historic milestone by leading Egypt to qualify for the 2026 FIFA World Cup, becoming only the second Egyptian coach in history to guide the Pharaohs to the tournament after the late Mahmoud El-Gohary, who led the team to the 1990 World Cup in Italy.

What makes this even more special is that the famously fiery Hossam Hassan was once the national team’s striker under El-Gohary’s command — so in a way, this is his second World Cup, though this time from the sidelines as coach.

Hossam Hassan with the legendary Gohary

He won’t be going alone; joining him is his twin brother Ibrahim Hassan, now the team’s assistant coach and director, who also played in the 1990 World Cup as a right back.

The Ibrahim brothers did it and they are going to the World Cup again

There’s also a generational touch to this squad. 

Mostafa Shobair, Egypt’s second goalkeeper, is the son of Ahmed Shobair, who guarded Egypt’s goal in the 1990 World Cup.

Three players stand out as strong contenders to become the first Egyptians ever to appear in the World Cup twice: Mohamed Salah, Trézéguet, and Mohamed El-Shennawy. This is the second time Salah has played a decisive role in qualification — he even gifted us one of his finest goals in the process.

Ramy Rabia played in the 2018 qualifiers but missed the finals due to injury. Ramadan Sobhi still has a chance if he can overcome his recurring injuries, and Ahmed Hegazi may also be in contention.

May we see that scene over and over in World Cup 2026 inshallah

All in all, good luck to our Pharaohs — and may God grant them historic performances and memorable results in the 2026 World Cup, inshallah.