Egypt

Egypt’s World Cup story has been remarkably consistent: appear, struggle, exit, repeat. The Pharaohs have never escaped a group stage in 1934, 1990 or 2018. The 2026 edition offers their best chance in a generation, primarily because of Mohamed Salah’s enduring quality and the structural reality of a 48-team field with expanded knockout-stage entry — third place in the group may even be enough to advance as a best-third-placed side.

The most likely outcome is second place in Group G. Belgium are clear favourites for top spot, and Egypt’s matchup advantages over Iran (a more dynamic midfield, individual quality through Salah and Marmoush, better wide play through Trezeguet) make them favourites for second. The June 26 match against Iran in Seattle is shaping as the de facto knockout-round play-in. Get a result there, take care of New Zealand on June 21, and a first-ever Egyptian World Cup knockout appearance arrives.

The ceiling is genuinely the Round of 16. The floor — and Egyptian football fans will know this fear well — is finishing third and going home anyway because some other group’s third-placed side has a better goal difference. The variables are mostly about Salah: at 33 his explosiveness has slightly diminished, but his finishing remains elite. If he stays fit and gets one goal per match through three games, Egypt’s history changes. If he doesn’t, Marmoush and the supporting cast aren’t yet proven to carry a team this far on their own. Hossam Hassan, the goal-scoring icon now in the dugout, has staked his coaching reputation on this group. The story writes itself; the team has to finish it.

Egypt have appeared at three World Cups — 1934, 1990, and 2018 — and have never escaped the group stage. The Pharaohs return to the tournament for a fourth time chasing what would be a genuinely historic first: a knockout-round appearance. The man who will decide whether they get there is, predictably, Mohamed Salah, whose 67 international goals leave him just two behind the all-time Egyptian record held by — yes — his current head coach, Hossam Hassan.

The squad architecture under Hassan reflects an Egyptian footballing reality: Al Ahly is the engine of the national team. Eight or nine players in the 26-man group come from the Cairo giant, and the spine of the team — El-Shenawy in goal, Rabia and Yasser Ibrahim at the back, Marwan Attia and Emam Ashour in midfield, Trezeguet and Zizo wide — all train together every week. That cohesion is Egypt’s secret weapon, and a major reason Hassan has resisted blowing the group up despite some performances at AFCON that fell short of expectations.

In attack, Salah remains the talisman, but Omar Marmoush has emerged at Manchester City as a genuine second elite option — pacey, two-footed, capable of playing centrally or off the right. Behind them, the depth thins quickly. The surprise selection of 18-year-old Barcelona Atlètic prospect Hamza Abdelkarim hints at where Hassan is looking for future answers, though it’s unlikely the teenager sees serious minutes against Belgium. Defensively, the group is experienced but slow — Egypt’s mid-block has to be disciplined because the back four can’t be exposed in foot races.

The group draw could have been worse. Belgium is the clear favourite, but Iran and New Zealand are beatable, and Egypt’s June 15 opener against the Red Devils — at Seattle Stadium, against a Belgium side still finding rhythm — is the kind of opportunity Egypt’s recent World Cup campaigns have lacked. A point in the opener changes everything. Even a respectable defeat keeps belief alive for the Iran fixture, which is where Egypt’s tournament will likely be decided.

For Hassan, the Egyptian football icon who took over from Rui Vitória in February 2024 alongside twin brother Ibrahim as team director, this is also personal. He scored those 69 goals across a 16-year international career in which Egypt never advanced past the World Cup group stage. Now, on the touchline, he has the chance to be the man who breaks the curse — and the man who hands the all-time scoring record to his captain.

Hossam Hassan Hassanein Hassan, born 10 August 1966 in the Helwan district of Cairo, is the most decorated Egyptian footballer of his generation and now coaches the national team he scored 69 goals for. He was appointed in February 2024 as a replacement for Portuguese coach Rui Vitória, with twin brother Ibrahim taking on the director-of-football role alongside him — a striking institutional bet on a pair of brothers who shared dressing rooms across nearly the entire span of their playing careers.

As a player, Hassan was a goal-scoring icon: 177 caps, 69 international goals, AFCON winner in 1986 and 1998, a member of Egypt’s 1990 World Cup squad. He spent the bulk of his career at Al Ahly, with stints at PAOK in Greece and Neuchâtel Xamax in Switzerland providing his European exposure. The all-time Egypt scoring record remains his — for now. With Mohamed Salah on 67 international goals heading into the tournament, that record is statistically likely to fall during the group stage. Hassan has spoken publicly about how proud he would be to hand it over to Salah.

His coaching career, before the national team, was almost entirely confined to Egyptian and Libyan club football, with stops at Al-Masry (multiple stints), Zamalek, Wadi Degla, Smouha and a spell at Al Ahly Tripoli in Libya. He has never coached outside the Arab world. That résumé made his appointment to the national job controversial — some Egyptian media argued the federation needed a European technical voice — but Hassan has answered with results: he steered Egypt through CAF qualifying largely without alarm and built a 26-man squad that prioritizes cohesion over star-chasing.

Tactically, Hassan favors a 4-2-3-1 with Salah floating between the right channel and a free role behind the striker, Marmoush as the front man, and Trezeguet or Zizo providing balance on the opposite flank. Defensively, the team is disciplined and slow-tempo — a function of the older defensive core — and reliant on Marwan Attia and Hamdy Fathy to screen the back four. He has been notably loyal to the Al Ahly bloc; some critics argue too loyal, and that overseas-based talent (notably Mostafa Mohamed of Nantes) has been frozen out for political rather than footballing reasons. But Hassan’s response is straightforward: the cohesion of the dressing room is the team’s edge, and he has both the playing credibility and the family management (his brother as director) to enforce it.