Egypt Sack Hossam Hassan and Appoint Ali Maher as Coach Days Before Malawi Qualifiers

Introduction

Egypt have dismissed their national team head coach, Hossam Hassan, and replaced him with Ali Maher, in a decision that arrived with startling speed and only days before the Pharaohs return to competitive action. The Egyptian Football Association confirmed the change on Saturday, November 7, 2026, ending the tenure of the man who had taken the seven-time African champions to the knockout stage of the World Cup for the first time in their history. The announcement closed a week in which Hassan’s position had looked increasingly fragile, even though his contract had been extended until 2030 only months earlier. For a federation that had stood behind its coach through a World Cup campaign, the sudden reversal raised immediate questions about what had changed behind closed doors. The association’s own statement offered little detail, speaking only of recent events and their effect on the image and stability of the national team. That vagueness has left supporters, pundits and former players to piece together the reasons from a chain of incidents that stretched from a World Cup defeat in the summer to a media ban in the first days of November. What is not in doubt is the scale of the task now facing the new man. Maher inherits a team top of its qualifying group, a squad due to gather for a training camp on Monday, and two Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers against Malawi within ten days of his appointment. He has almost no time to settle in, no time to reshape a squad, and no margin for a slow start. The story of Egypt sack Hossam Hassan Ali Maher November 2026 is one of triumph on the pitch and trouble off it, and it leaves the Pharaohs starting over six days before a qualifier.

1. The decision in Cairo

The Egyptian Football Association board met on Saturday, November 7, and when the meeting ended, Hossam Hassan was no longer the coach of Egypt. The association announced the decision in a statement shared on social media, saying its board had decided to thank Hassan and his technical and administrative staff, in line with the terms of their contracts. The wording was formal and brief, the kind of language federations use when they want the decision to speak for itself and the detail to stay private. There was no farewell match, no press conference from the outgoing coach, and no extended explanation of why a coach who had delivered the country’s best World Cup result in its history had been removed in the middle of a qualifying campaign. Instead, the statement pointed to a review of what it called the circumstances and events of the past period, and to the effect those events had on the team. The board said maintaining the stability of the national team was a paramount priority that could not be compromised, and that the decision followed from that review. For observers of Egyptian football, the phrasing was familiar. Federations rarely spell out the full reasoning behind a sacking, particularly when the reasons touch on a coach’s private life or on disputes that have played out in public. But the abruptness of this decision still stood out. Hassan had been appointed in February 2024, had guided Egypt through the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations and the 2026 World Cup, and had signed a contract extension until 2030 after the World Cup. Six days before a qualifier, with a training camp due to open on Monday, the federation chose to start again rather than wait until the international window had passed. That choice, more than any single sentence in the statement, is what has dominated the discussion since.

1.1 What the EFA statement said

The association’s statement said the board had decided to thank Hassan and his technical and administrative staff, in line with the terms of the contract, following a meeting that began earlier in the day. It said the decision came after a review of the circumstances and events of the past period, and of what the board described as their negative effect on the national team’s image and stability. In a separate line carried by the Associated Press, the federation cited what it called a negative impact on the positive image of the team, and added that maintaining the team’s stability was a paramount priority that could not be compromised. The statement did not name the events it was referring to, did not mention any single incident, and did not say whether the decision was unanimous. It thanked Hassan for his contribution to Egyptian football, a standard courtesy in such announcements, and it confirmed the appointment of Ali Maher in the same breath, so that there was no gap between the departure and the arrival. That structure matters, because it shows a federation that wanted the story to be about the future rather than the past. By announcing the successor at once, the association gave the media and the supporters a new subject to discuss, and gave the players a clear answer to the question of who would be in charge when they reported for camp. What the statement did not do was close the argument. The absence of specifics has invited speculation, and in the days since the announcement, reporting has filled the gap with the two episodes that most visibly damaged Hassan’s standing: a ban from appearing in the media, imposed by Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation, and a suspension handed down by FIFA after the World Cup. Neither was mentioned by name in the federation’s statement, and whether either was decisive remains unconfirmed.

1.2 The timing, six days before Malawi

The timing of the decision is the part that has drawn the most attention. Egypt host Malawi at Cairo International Stadium on November 13, and travel for the return fixture four days later, on November 17. Those two matches are the third and fourth qualifying matchdays for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, a tournament that will be staged in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. Egypt lead Group B with four points, ahead of Angola on goal difference, so the qualifiers are not a crisis. But they are not formalities either, and a new coach with six days to prepare would not have been anyone’s first choice if the federation had been free to choose its moment. The squad is due to assemble for a training camp on Monday, November 9, two days after the sacking. That means Maher will meet his players for the first time with a match to prepare for and a staff still to assemble. He has been asked to submit his proposed coaching staff, and the administrative and medical staff are reported to remain in place, which gives him some continuity. Even so, the first days of any new tenure are usually spent learning names, testing combinations and building trust, and Maher must do all of that while preparing for a qualifier. The federation’s willingness to accept that disruption suggests it had concluded that the cost of keeping Hassan had become greater than the cost of changing course mid-campaign. It also suggests the decision was not taken lightly, since federations rarely sack a coach on the eve of a qualifier unless they believe the alternative is worse. The question now is whether the timing proves to be a bold reset or an avoidable gamble, and the answer will be written on the pitch in Cairo on November 13.

2. Who is Ali Maher

Ali Maher is 52 years old, and he arrives at the national team job from Ceramica Cleopatra, the Egyptian Premier League club he had been leading when the federation called. He is not a stranger to Egyptian football, and he is not a caretaker picked for convenience. His coaching career has taken him through several of the country’s best-known clubs, and his reputation is that of a demanding, organised coach who builds teams around discipline and hard work. The appointment gives him the biggest job of his career at a moment when Egyptian football is watching closely, and it gives the federation a coach who knows the domestic league inside out. That knowledge matters more than it might seem. Most of the Egypt squad plays in the Egyptian Premier League, and a coach who has spent years studying those players from the opposite dugout starts with a detailed picture of their strengths, their habits and their weaknesses. Maher will not need weeks to learn who can play where. What he will need is time to turn that knowledge into a team, and time is the one thing he does not have. His first task is to pick a squad for Malawi, to choose a staff, and to convince a group of players who had been working under a very different kind of coach that the change is a step forward rather than a disruption. The federation has given him the job on a permanent basis rather than as an interim appointment, which is a vote of confidence, but it is a confidence that will be judged quickly, in the only currency that matters in international football: results.

2.1 From Ceramica Cleopatra to the Pharaohs

Maher leaves Ceramica Cleopatra, where he had been in charge of a side sitting fourth in the Egyptian Premier League, to take over the seven-time African champions. The move is a step up in scale and in scrutiny. At club level, a coach works with his players every day, builds a system over months, and is judged over a season. At international level, a coach sees his players for a few days at a time, must make decisions quickly, and is judged match by match. The transition is one of the hardest in football, and Maher must make it in less than a week. Reports of the appointment say the federation moved quickly once the decision to part with Hassan had been taken, and that Maher was the board’s choice to lead the Pharaohs through the upcoming period. He has been asked to submit his vision for the formation of his coaching staff, a sign that the federation expects him to build his own team around him rather than simply inherit Hassan’s. The administrative and medical staff are reported to remain in place, which should give him continuity in the day-to-day running of the camp. For Maher himself, the appointment is the opportunity of a career. He has spent years proving himself in the Egyptian league, and the national team job is the reward for that work. But it is also a job that has consumed coaches before him, and the circumstances of his arrival mean he will be judged from his very first match, with no honeymoon period to speak of.

2.2 A coach shaped by the Egyptian league

Before Ceramica Cleopatra, Maher coached Smouha, ENPPI, Al Masry and Modern Sport, a tour of Egyptian club football that has given him a broad view of the domestic game. Each of those jobs taught him something different. At some clubs he was building, at others he was steadying, and at all of them he was working with Egyptian players, in Egyptian conditions, under the pressure that comes with football in a country where the game matters enormously. That experience is his strongest asset as he takes the national team job. He knows the league’s players, he knows which of them can handle pressure, and he knows how to set up a team to win in African football, where conditions, travel and physicality all play a part. What he does not yet have is experience of the particular pressures of the national team, where every selection is debated in public, every result is treated as a verdict on the coach, and the shadow of the last man in the job is never far away. Hassan’s record at the World Cup sets a high bar, and Maher will be measured against it from the start. His advantage is that he starts with a team that is winning its qualifying group and a squad that has recently played at a World Cup. His challenge is to keep that momentum going while putting his own stamp on the side, and to do it with a group of players he has never coached, in a camp that opens two days after his appointment.

3. Hassan’s rise and the World Cup run

Hossam Hassan’s appointment in February 2024 was itself a landmark. He took charge of the national team after the departure of Portuguese coach Rui Vitoria, and he became the first former Egypt player to coach the national team at a World Cup. As a player, he had been Egypt’s all-time leading scorer, a striker whose name was woven into the history of the national team. As a coach, he brought a fierce, emotional style that divided opinion but produced results. His tenure began with the task of rebuilding confidence after a disappointing period, and it gathered pace through the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, where Egypt finished fourth, and into the World Cup, where the Pharaohs achieved something no Egyptian team had managed before. The World Cup campaign ended in the round of 16, but the journey there was historic. Egypt qualified for the 2026 tournament, ending a 28-year absence from the global stage, and then reached the knockout stage for the first time in the nation’s history. For a country that had waited so long to return to the World Cup, that was a genuine achievement, and it earned Hassan a contract extension until 2030. The extension was a public statement of faith. It said the federation believed in the project and in the man leading it. That it lasted only months is a measure of how quickly the mood changed, and of how much of that change happened away from the pitch.

3.1 From appointment to the last 16

Hassan’s path to the World Cup began in February 2024, when he replaced Rui Vitoria as head coach. He was 58 at the time, and his appointment was welcomed by many supporters who saw in him a coach who understood what the national team meant to Egypt. His first major tournament was the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco, where he guided Egypt to the semi-finals and a fourth-place finish. That result steadied the team and built momentum towards the World Cup. When the 2026 tournament arrived, Egypt were back on the biggest stage after an absence of 28 years, and Hassan’s team made history by reaching the round of 16. The achievement was real and widely celebrated. Egypt had never before won a knockout-stage match at a World Cup, and reaching the last 16 put them among the best 16 teams in the world. The run also gave Egyptian football a new set of heroes and a new sense of possibility. After the tournament, the federation extended Hassan’s contract until 2030, a decision that seemed to lock in a long-term project built around the coach who had delivered the breakthrough. It was, by any measure, the high point of his tenure. The months that followed would show how fragile that high point was, and how quickly a reputation built on results can be undone by events off the field.

3.2 The Argentina defeat and the FIFA ban

Egypt’s World Cup ended in the round of 16 with a 3-2 defeat to Argentina, a match that has cast a long shadow over everything that followed. Egypt led by two goals at one stage, and had a goal disallowed, before Argentina fought back to win. Hassan was furious with the officiating, criticised the referee, Francois Letexier, and vowed not to watch another match of the tournament. The outburst was characteristic of a coach who wears his emotions openly, but it carried a cost. FIFA imposed a three-match suspension on Hassan and on his twin brother Ibrahim Hassan, the team’s director, ruling both out of the upcoming games against Malawi and the March qualifier against Angola. The ban was a direct consequence of their comments following the defeat, and it left Egypt facing a qualifying window without their head coach on the touchline. For a federation weighing its coach’s future, the suspension was a serious problem. It meant the man in charge could not do his job at the very moment the team needed him, and it added to a growing sense that the controversies around Hassan were becoming a distraction from the football. The ban did not by itself cause the sacking, and the federation has not said that it did. But it is part of the chain of events that the board reviewed when it decided that the team’s image and stability were at risk, and it helps explain why a coach with a contract until 2030 could be dismissed so suddenly.

4. The controversies that closed in

The World Cup ban was not the only cloud over Hassan’s final months. In the first days of November, Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation barred him from appearing in all media outlets, an unprecedented decision against a national coach. The ruling came in response to a public dispute between Hassan and his former wife, and it was reported as a ban imposed over what the council called violations of the rules on respecting private life. The decision left Hassan unable to carry out one of the basic duties of a modern national coach: speaking to the media, explaining his selections, and representing the team in public. A coach who cannot talk to the press cannot do his job properly, and the ban was widely seen as a sign that the controversies around him had become unmanageable. An Egyptian Football Association source told the AFP news agency that Hassan’s personal issues had created significant tension around the national team, a rare public acknowledgement from inside the federation that the problems were real. Taken together, the media ban, the FIFA suspension and the public dispute formed a pattern that the federation’s board could not ignore. The statement that announced the sacking spoke of recent events and their negative effect on the team’s image and stability, and those three episodes are the most visible candidates for what it meant. The federation has not confirmed that any one of them was decisive, and it may be that the decision was the product of all three together rather than a single incident.

4.1 The media ban

The media ban was imposed on November 4, three days before the sacking, by the Supreme Council for Media Regulation, Egypt’s media regulator. The council barred Hassan from appearing in all media outlets, citing what it called violations of the rules on respecting private life, in its response to a public dispute between Hassan and his former wife. The ruling was described as unprecedented against a national team coach, and its effect was immediate. A national coach is expected to speak before and after matches, to explain his squad selections, and to front the team’s public image. A coach under a media ban can do none of those things. The ban also sent a signal that the dispute had moved beyond the private sphere and into the public institutions of Egyptian football. For the federation, the timing was awkward. The national team was about to gather for a qualifying window, and its coach could not speak to the media about it. For Hassan, the ban was a humiliation as well as a practical obstacle, and it came after months of public controversy involving his two former wives, according to reporting of the dismissal. The council’s decision has not been publicly challenged, and whether Hassan intends to appeal it remains unconfirmed. What is clear is that it left him in an impossible position, and that it was one of the last events the federation’s board would have considered before it met on Saturday to decide his future.

4.2 The public dispute and the federation’s patience

The public dispute at the heart of the media ban had been building for months. Reporting of the dismissal describes months of public controversy involving Hassan’s two former wives, and a dispute with his former wife that spilled into the media. The details of the dispute are a private matter, and the federation’s statement did not go into them. But the dispute had consequences that were anything but private. It drew in the media regulator, it dominated coverage of the national team, and it created tension around the squad at a time when the focus should have been on the qualifiers. The federation’s patience, by all accounts, wore thin as the controversy grew. An association source told AFP that Hassan’s personal issues had created significant tension around the national team, and that the board had reviewed the circumstances and events of the past period before acting. The language of the federation’s statement, with its talk of the team’s image and stability, is the language of an organisation that has decided a problem can no longer be managed. It does not apportion blame, and it does not say whether Hassan was given a warning or a chance to resolve the situation. What it does say is that the board weighed the recent events and concluded that change was necessary. Whether that judgement was fair, and whether the federation could have handled the situation differently, is a question that will be debated in Egypt for some time. For now, the fact is that the federation chose to act, and that it acted six days before a qualifier, which suggests it believed the situation had reached a point where waiting was no longer an option.

5. The Salah question

No story about the Egypt national team is complete without Mohamed Salah, and the sacking of Hossam Hassan has inevitably raised questions about the Liverpool forward’s role. Speculation about the relationship between Salah and Hassan has circulated for weeks, and the federation has moved quickly to deny it. A board member, Mostafa Abo Zahra, told the ON Sport channel that Salah had no role in choosing Ali Maher as coach, and that the decision came from the federation itself. The denial was direct, and it was aimed at the suggestion that the country’s biggest star had influenced the change of coach. The speculation had a specific origin. In September, Salah was substituted during a qualifier against Angola, and he subsequently left the squad before the qualifier against South Sudan. That sequence of events led to reports of tension between the player and the coach, and to questions about whether the relationship had broken down. The federation’s denial does not settle the matter, and it is unlikely to stop the speculation. But it is a clear statement of the federation’s position, and it is worth reporting as such. What is not in doubt is that Salah remains the most important player in the Egypt squad, and that Maher’s first task will include managing the relationship with his captain. How that relationship develops, and whether the speculation about the past was fair, are questions for the coming weeks.

5.1 What the EFA says

The federation’s denial came from board member Mostafa Abo Zahra, who spoke to ON Sport following Saturday’s announcement. He said Salah had no role in choosing Ali Maher to coach the national team, and that the decision came from the federation itself. The comments followed speculation about Salah’s relationship with Hassan, and they were clearly intended to draw a line under that speculation. The federation has not said more than that, and it has not commented on the state of the relationship between Salah and Hassan, or on whether the two men spoke before the decision was taken. The denial is significant because it addresses the most sensitive question in Egyptian football: how much influence does the biggest star have over the national team. Federations are usually careful to insist that coaching decisions are theirs alone, and the EFA’s statement follows that pattern. Whether supporters believe it is another matter. In Egyptian football, as in football everywhere, the biggest players are assumed to have influence, and denials rarely end the discussion. But the federation has put its position on the record, and Maher will be judged on his own record rather than on the speculation about how he got the job.

5.2 The substitution in Angola and the squad exit

The speculation about Salah and Hassan traces back to a qualifier against Angola in September, when Salah was substituted and then left the squad before the following qualifier against South Sudan. The substitution itself was not unusual. Coaches substitute star players for tactical reasons, for fitness reasons, or to protect them from injury. But the sequence that followed, with Salah leaving the squad, invited questions about whether something more had happened. Reporting since has described speculation about the relationship between the two men, and the federation’s denial was a response to that speculation rather than to any confirmed incident. It is important to be clear about what is known and what is not. It is known that Salah was substituted against Angola and left the squad before the South Sudan match. It is not confirmed that the two events were connected, or that they reflected a breakdown in the relationship between player and coach. The federation says Salah had no role in the sacking, and that the decision was its own. Maher’s challenge now is to build a working relationship with his captain, and to do so in the glare of a media that will watch their every interaction. His first squad selection, and the way Salah is used against Malawi, will be read as a statement of intent, fairly or not.

6. What changes on the pitch

On the pitch, the change of coach means a new voice, a new approach, and a new set of decisions about a squad that has been built around Hassan’s ideas. Egypt’s immediate task is the double-header against Malawi, and the outcome of those two matches will shape the rest of the qualifying campaign. Egypt lead Group B with four points, ahead of Angola on goal difference, so the group is in their hands. But the qualifiers are the first test of Maher’s tenure, and they come with almost no preparation. The squad gathers on Monday, the first match is on Thursday, and the second is four days later in Malawi. That is a brutal introduction to international management, and it leaves no room for a bedding-in period. The players will need to adapt quickly to a new coach, a new way of playing, and a new set of expectations. Maher will need to decide quickly who he trusts, who fits his system, and who can handle the pressure of a qualifier with a new coach on the touchline. The federation’s decision to change coaches at this moment suggests it believes the team can absorb the disruption and still win. The next ten days will show whether that belief was justified.

6.1 The Malawi qualifiers

Egypt host Malawi at Cairo International Stadium on November 13, and travel for the return fixture on November 17. The two matches are the third and fourth qualifying matchdays for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations. Malawi are not the strongest team in the group, but they are not a side to be taken lightly, particularly away from home. Egypt’s position at the top of Group B gives them a cushion, but two good results would put them firmly in control of qualification, while dropped points would invite pressure and questions about the timing of the coaching change. The first match, in Cairo, is the more important of the two. A win in front of a home crowd would settle nerves, give Maher a winning start, and quiet the debate about the sacking. A poor result would do the opposite, and would be read as evidence that the federation had acted too hastily. The second match, in Malawi, is a different challenge. Away qualifiers in Africa are rarely straightforward, and Egypt will need to manage the travel, the conditions, and the atmosphere. The two matches together are a test of the new coach’s ability to prepare a team quickly, to make the right selections, and to get results under pressure. They are also a test of the players, who must show that the change of coach has not unsettled them.

6.2 The squad and the camp

The squad is due to assemble for a training camp on Monday, November 9, two days after the sacking. That camp will be Maher’s first chance to work with his players, and it will be a compressed, intense few days. He has been asked to submit his proposed coaching staff, and the administrative and medical staff are reported to remain, which should give him a stable base to work from. But the squad list itself has not yet been published, and it is not confirmed which players Maher will call up. Hassan’s selections were a frequent topic of debate, and Maher’s first squad will be scrutinised for what it says about his thinking. Will he keep faith with the core of the World Cup squad, or will he make changes? Will he bring in players who were overlooked under Hassan? Will Salah start, and in what role? These are the questions that will dominate the build-up to the Malawi matches, and the answers will come when the squad is announced. The camp itself will be short, and Maher will have to use the time well. He will need to assess fitness, test combinations, and settle on a team, all while building a relationship with a group of players he has never coached. It is a demanding assignment, and it starts on Monday.

7. Reaction in Egypt and beyond

The reaction to the sacking has been swift and divided. For some supporters, the decision is a necessary reset, a recognition that the controversies around Hassan had become a distraction from the football. For others, it is a mistake, the removal of the coach who delivered the country’s best World Cup result, at the worst possible moment. The debate has played out across Egyptian media, on social media, and in the studios of the sports channels, where former players and pundits have lined up on both sides. Those who support the decision point to the media ban, the FIFA suspension, and the public dispute, and argue that no coach can survive that combination of problems. Those who oppose it point to the World Cup run, the contract extension until 2030, and the timing, and argue that the federation should have waited until after the Malawi qualifiers. The truth, as ever, is likely to be more complicated than either position allows. Hassan’s record on the pitch was strong, and his problems off it were real. The federation had to weigh both, and it chose to act. Whether that choice is vindicated will depend on results, and on whether Maher can take the team forward. Until then, the debate will continue, and it will be loud.

7.1 Fans, pundits and former players

Egyptian football is not short of opinions, and the sacking has produced plenty of them. Supporters have debated the decision online, with some praising the federation for acting decisively and others accusing it of ingratitude towards a coach who made history. Pundits have questioned the timing, and have asked whether a federation that extended a coach’s contract until 2030 could have been surprised by the problems that followed. Former players have spoken about the difficulty of the national team job, and about the pressure that comes with it. What has been striking is the range of the reaction. There is no consensus, and there is unlikely to be one until Maher’s team has played. The debate has also touched on the role of the media regulator, and on whether a national coach should be banned from speaking to the press. Some have argued that the ban made Hassan’s position untenable, whatever the rights and wrongs of the underlying dispute. Others have argued that the federation should have defended its coach rather than removing him. These are arguments about more than one sacking. They are arguments about how Egyptian football is run, about the relationship between the federation and the media, and about the expectations placed on the national team. They will not be settled by a single decision, and they will not be settled quickly.

7.2 What the timing says about the federation

The timing of the decision says something about the federation as well as about the coach. A board that sacks a coach six days before a qualifier is a board that believes it has no better option, or a board that has been forced into a decision by events. Either way, it is a board that has taken a risk, and it will be judged on the outcome. The federation’s statement emphasised stability, and it presented the change as a step towards stability rather than away from it. That is a bold claim to make when the change itself is disruptive, and it will be tested in the coming weeks. If Maher wins both Malawi matches, the timing will be forgotten, and the decision will be remembered as decisive. If the results are poor, the timing will be the first thing critics mention, and the federation will face questions about why it did not wait. The federation has also taken a risk in the choice of successor. Maher is a respected club coach, but he has never managed at international level, and he has been given the job with almost no time to prepare. That is a vote of confidence, but it is also a gamble, and the federation knows it. The next ten days will show whether the gamble pays off, and whether the board’s judgement about the timing was right.

8. What happens next

The immediate future is clear enough. Maher will name his staff, pick his squad, and take charge of the training camp on Monday. The Malawi matches will follow, and they will give the first real indication of what the new Egypt looks like. Beyond that, the questions multiply. Can Maher build on the World Cup run, or will the change of coach disrupt a team that was making progress? Can he manage the relationship with Salah, and get the best out of the squad’s biggest star? Can he navigate the qualifying campaign and take Egypt to the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations? And what happens to Hassan? He is 60 years old, a former player of great standing, and a coach who has just been sacked after making history. His next move is not yet known, and it is not confirmed whether he intends to appeal the media ban or the FIFA suspension. The federation, for its part, will hope that the change brings the stability its statement promised.

8.1 Maher’s first tests

Maher’s first tests are practical ones, and they arrive fast. He must name a coaching staff, settle on a squad, and prepare a team for two qualifiers in ten days, all while learning the rhythms of international management. The training camp that opens on Monday is his workshop, and the Cairo match against Malawi on November 13 is his first examination. A win there would do more than take Egypt closer to qualification. It would validate the federation’s decision, quiet the debate about the timing, and give Maher the authority that only results can confer. A draw or a defeat would have the opposite effect, and would invite the questions the federation will be hoping to avoid. Beyond Malawi, the tests become longer-term. Maher must show that he can build a team rather than simply manage one, that he can develop a style of play suited to the players he has, and that he can handle the scrutiny that comes with the Egypt job. He must also show that he can manage the squad’s senior players, above all Salah, and that he can make the hard selection decisions that every national coach faces. None of these tests can be passed in a week. But the first of them, the Malawi double-header, will be graded immediately, and it will set the tone for everything that follows.

8.2 What to watch next

There are several things to watch in the coming days. The first is the squad announcement, and what it reveals about Maher’s thinking. The second is the composition of his coaching staff, and whether he brings in familiar faces from his club career or keeps the continuity the federation has promised. The third is the team he picks for the Malawi match in Cairo, and the way he uses Salah. The fourth is the result itself, and the performance that produces it. Beyond the matches, there are questions about Hassan’s future, about whether he will speak publicly, and about whether the media ban and the FIFA suspension are challenged. There are also questions about the federation, and about whether the board’s gamble on timing and on a coach with no international experience will be vindicated. Egypt play Malawi twice in ten days, and by the time the second match is over, the country will have a much clearer sense of whether the sacking was a turning point or a mistake. The coming weeks will provide the answers.

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