I Love Handball, Especially When Egypt Plays

I’m Muhammed Abdullah, but you can call me “Gendo.”

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I am a former handball player. I didn’t have a great career; I preferred studying and other things to practicing this sport and playing professionally. But I do follow the sports, Egyptian handball especially.

What do you think about Egypt? Or to be specific, what comes to your mind when you hear about the Egyptian national handball team? If you are a good fan of handball, you must have watched the match between Egypt and Denmark in the 2019 World Cup. That match was a truly exciting match. It ended with penalty kicks in favor of Denmark after the two teams tied in basic and extra time of the match.

Egypt was and still is a strong team in this sport, but in my personal belief, Mr. Garcia Barondo, the former Spanish coach of the Egyptian national team, is the most influential in the history of this team. I really love this man and was sad when he left the Egyptian national team after the 2023 World Cup, but the good thing is that he was replaced by another experienced Spanish coach called Juan Carlos Pastor.

Let us now talk about Egypt and Africa. There is a tournament in Africa, as well as for all continents as well. At the time I am writing this article, the date of the final match for that tournament is approaching, which will be between the Egyptian team, which reached the final after eliminating Tunisia in the semi-final, and the Algerian team, which reached the final. After eliminating the runner-up of the previous tournament, Cape Verde. You should know that the first start of this tournament was in 1974, and Egypt did not participate in the first two editions of the tournament.

The Tunisian national team is the most decorated in the history of this tournament, with ten gold medals throughout its participation. It also achieved second place eight times and third place six times. You may wonder what is the status of the Egyptian national team in Africa? Let me say that the Egyptian national team is the second most decorated team after Tunisia with eight gold medals, reaching runner-up six times and achieving third place six times as well. Of course, we do not forget the Algerian national team, which won the championship seven times and runner-up seven times as well, and achieved third place five times, so it is the third team to win the championship, and it is also an ancient team.

This participation was in 1979, and the Congo was the country where that tournament was held.
In the tournament that followed in 1981 in Tunisia, Egypt did not reach the final and was satisfied with achieving fourth place, while Tunisia, the owner of the land, achieved third place.

Egypt reached the final again in 1985 in Morocco. The final was between Egypt and Algeria, but Egypt did not win this tournament either and lost the match. Algeria won the title, and the result of the match was 22:16. In the next tournament in 1987 in Morocco, Egypt reached the final. Still, it did not win and lost the final to Algeria again, and Algeria officially won its fourth title in that tournament.

You must be wondering, then, how Egypt is the second most decorated country, despite the passage of almost eleven editions of the tournament without even a single title? Hold your breath, and let’s see…

In 1991, the tournament was held in Egypt, and the final was held between Egypt and Algeria. The result was Egypt winning its first title, and the result of the match was 19:18 in favor of Egypt. Then, in 1992 in Ivory Coast, Egypt repeated its victory in the championship, but this time it was by defeating Tunisia with a score of 26:24.

Do you think the wheel has turned with Egypt yet?

Hence, Egypt won the title again on its land in 2004, defeating Tunisia in the final with a score of 31:28. Then the Egyptian national team won the title at the expense of Tunisia again in 2008, then 2016, then 2020. The last title was at the expense of the Cape Verde national team in 2022.

You must have noticed how strong a team like Tunisia is. Five titles out of a total of eight for Egypt were at the expense of Tunisia, which means that even if it did not win, it was present on the scene by obtaining runner-up. Likewise, Algeria was never a weak team, I think.

The Egyptian national team is close to equaling Tunisia’s historic record in that tournament. Can it beat the Algerian national team in the next final?
As for participating in the World Cup, Egypt did not achieve the title, unfortunately, but it achieved seventh place in the last two tournaments, knowing that one of them was on Egyptian soil during the Covid-19 period, and Egypt succeeded in organizing it wonderfully and proved its competence and ability to bear responsibility.

I believe that Garcia Barondo achieved the maximum he could with the Egyptian national team. I also believe that he could not deal with creating new motivations for the players, as the Egyptian national team has won four African championships out of the last five and achieved the same position in two World Cups. I have all my heart for him. Respect.

Do you think that Mr. Juan Carlos Pastor is able to achieve the greatest renaissance in this sport in Egypt by winning the World Cup? Can Egypt win the world champion title?