According to Goal.com, Egypt's head coach Hassan said that the scene of President Sisi meeting with the delegation after the 2026 World Cup campaign made him feel as if he were wearing a medal. He emphasized that every word the president said at that time had a clear and important purpose.
Egypt lost 2-3 to Argentina in the Round of 16 of the 2026 World Cup, ending their run in the tournament.
Speaking at a celebration held by the Egyptian Football Association for the national teams, Hassan said that the president believes in the talent of Egyptian players and called for continued trust in Egyptian coaches after the teams achieved results.
Hassan said, "Egypt has brought smiles back to the faces of its fans. The team's spirit, skill level, and outstanding results have won back the supporters' support."
He explained that the coaching staff has the full support of the Football Association's board of directors, both the previous board chaired by Jamal Alam and the current board chaired by engineer Hani Abu Rida. He believes this is a key reason for the team's recent success.
Hassan greeted fans both in Egypt and abroad, thanking them for their continued support of the national team from all over the world, and emphasized that these fans deserve the team's effort and to make them happy.
Hassan insisted that he selected players based solely on their performance on the field, and nothing else.
“My advice to youth national team players is that the national team is the first door to your professional career,” he said. “Clubs are important, but the national team comes first.”
He said: "I don't look at specific ages or teams. Nothing attracts my attention except for performance on the field. It's not true that I called up Barcelona player Hamza Abdelkarim to the Egyptian team for the 2026 World Cup under pressure. The player has also benefited from national team experience in the World Cup."
"My advice to young players is to take Salah as a role model," Hassan continued. "I think the Egyptian captain's experience playing as a number 10 or number 9 in the World Cup has also benefited him greatly."
He said other players also benefited. "Some players renewed their contracts with their clubs, and some players saw their market value increase because of participating in the World Cup. This is natural, and I'm happy to see it."
When discussing players with dual citizenship, the Egyptian coach said, "We highly value professional players who hold dual citizenship and are based outside of Egypt."
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He continued, "Why do people always prefer to hire foreign coaches, while I have excellent Egyptian coaches? Foreign coaches want to work under ideal conditions and cannot cope with the various conditions in reality, which is different from local coaches."
Hassan's meaning was simple: "What I mean is, whoever deserves that position should be invited."
Hassan also believes that the big clubs in the Egyptian league rely too heavily on foreign coaches. He said, "I'm surprised some clubs complain about player fatigue. Each team has 35 players, how can this be?"
He added, "Egypt is not a small country, we are a big country. I always tell the players this before World Cup matches, like the one against Argentina. I tell them not to think about who they are facing, but to think about the Egyptian national team jersey they are wearing."
He also mentioned the cost issue. "When foreign coaches came, they wanted to stay in hotels, which cost us at least 500,000 Egyptian pounds a day. But after we had a Football House (referring to the Target project), we started staying at this training camp, and we are very happy because everything we need is here."
The Egyptian team will then spend the next few days preparing for their 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Angola and South Sudan, as well as a friendly match against South Africa.
