Legends El Hadary and Ahmed Hassan join Egypt's coaching staff for 2025 FIFA Arab Cup

Egyptian legend Essam El Hadary (center) during his time as goalkeeping coach for the Syria national team. Photo: Syrian Football Association

The Egyptian Football Association has appointed a new technical staff for the national team composed of local-based players, in preparation for Egypt's participation at the 2025 FIFA Arab Cup.

The tournament will take place in Qatar from December 1 to 18 this year, featuring national teams from across the Arab world.

Originally, it was agreed that Egypt's first team would take part in the competition. However, due to the clash in dates with the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations — scheduled to be held in Morocco from December 21, 2025 to January 18, 2026 — it was decided to send the local-based national team instead.

The newly formed coaching staff is led by veteran manager Helmy Toulan as head coach.

Joining him is African football legend Ahmed Hassan as the team manager, along with iconic former goalkeeper Essam El-Hadary as the goalkeeping coach. Mamdouh El-Mohamady will serve as assistant coach.

The squad is expected to feature players from the Nile Egyptian League, Egypt’s top domestic division, marking a step up from the previous local national team selection.

Egypt’s team for the African Nations Championship (CHAN) qualifiers had consisted largely of second division players and a few rarely used top-tier players. That team was eliminated by South Africa, drawing 1-1 away before getting a 3-1 defeat at home in the return leg.

The CHAN campaign was overseen by Wael Riyad, the head coach of Egypt’s 2007-born youth national team, who led the squad during the qualification phase.

The 2025 Arab Cup will be the second edition of the tournament under FIFA’s supervision, with the previous edition held in 2021 and won by Algeria.