It was as well the breakthrough for Egyptian players to play in the foreign leagues, Egyptian professional players are estimated to be around 68 all over the world, two of them play in Italy, one – Ahmed Ghazi - in Lega Pro (the Italian third division) with Pavia's jersey. The other, Ahmed Hegazy plays for Fiorentina.
But there is a footballer, officially an Italian player, who grabs the attention of the Egyptian fans when they watch Serie A matches on Tv: he's Stephan El Shaarawy born to Egyptian father and an Italian mother.
But what does Serie A mean for the Egyptian? Which are the favourite teams in the North African country? SerieAddicted interviewed a group of friends in Egypt. Let's read what they think.
Hassan Mohamed is a 26 years old petroleum engineer. He watches Serie A every week, when asked about his favorite club he replies Milan, not for particular reason but because when he saw them playing he fell in love with them. Obviously he likes El Shaarawy. His expectations for this season? AS Roma will win the Scudetto.
Ahmed Bondok, 20 years old, is an university student, he watches Serie A every week. “For me Serie A is a never ending love story”, he says. “I'm an AS Roma supporter because of Francesco Totti, he's my football idol. I started following him and the team since I was 10 and ever since”. Ahmed adds that he knows every single little detail about the club. He hopes that Roma will reach European competitions for the next season: “They have been perfect so far, but is not going to be easy against great teams like Juventus and Napoli. I think Roma's project is similar to Barcelona and PSG ones”. Unlike many others in his country, he doesn’t consider El Shaarawy as an Egyptian.
Amr Khaled is a 24 years old engineer. “I follow SerieA every week, I love it more than other leagues, and I'm a loyal fan of Inter”, We ask him why, and Amr says that he started following nerazzurri because of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Adriano, but he was also moved by the loyalty of captain Javier Zanetti.
In the last twenty years Serie A has lost most of its charme in favour of Premier League, La Liga and Bundesliga. But in Egypt, and not only, there are loyal fans that whatever happens and whoever plays, keep watching and following Calcio.
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Tuesday, November 12 th, 2013
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