LAUSANNE, February 1, 2020 - When Esraa Awad had her first taste of football at the age of four, the beauty of kicking the ball around was all that mattered in her uncomplicated mind - in spite of a bleeding nose. She remembers getting hit in the face with a ball while kicking it back and forth with a boy. But while her face was being washed and her teachers expressed worry at her injury, “I wasn’t thinking of the pain, I wasn’t thinking of the bleeding, I was just thinking of getting back to playing football,” she told AIPS.
To further highlight the significance of that precious childhood memory, Awad added: “I was too young to understand that maybe it’s a boy thing or whatever.” However her undiluted passion for football eventually met with the harsh reality of gender discrimination during her time as captain of a boys football team.
EARLY STRUGGLE Her 12 year-old self “struggled really, really hard” to gain acceptance. “I really wanted to quit at the time. I wanted to quit the team but my father wouldn’t let me and also my coach wouldn’t let me, and this was when I learned to push myself. I fought until I got to the point where I was one of the team and the boys were very accepting.”
Then she also vividly recalls being snubbed by the captain of an opposing team during a pre-match handshake ritual. “He wouldn’t shake my hand because I was a girl,” she claimed. But the boys on her team encouraged her after the incident, telling her not to feel sad, and she subsequently led them to victory in the match. “That was the first time, I think, I felt like I was being discriminated against because of my gender, but my passion for football was bigger than anything else.”
Indeed, her passion, fuelled by an immense support from family, has seen her navigate a football career that is approaching two decades, including a successful eight-year spell at Wadi Degla, Egypt’s most decorated women’s football club. However, Awad is not oblivious to the seemingly stunted state of women’s football in Egypt, especially as it concerns the senior national team, which has been inactive since making history at the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in 2016.
MAKING HISTORY At Cameroon 2016, they participated in their first Women’s AFCON in 18 years (and second overall) and most notably recorded their first-ever victory in the history of the tournament. But every renewed hope that sprouted with that experience withered before long, and since June 2018, Egypt Women’s National Team have been unranked by FIFA. Three years and counting, not even a training session has been held for the team, which has faded into obscurity.
And Awad is convinced that the 5-0 defeat to South Africa during the Women’s AFCON in 2016 is more than likely the major reason why they have been left out in the cold since that edition of the tournament ended.
“Basically the reason why we haven’t played as a national team since 2016 is because we lost against South Africa 5-0 and the federation thought it was a shame. They totally looked past the fact that it was a historic moment for us to have qualified for the Africa Cup of Nations with zero percent support from them actually.
“No one thought we would make it, but we did. But instead of building on that success they completely ignored everything, and the reason why they don’t want to have a first team now is because they think the team will keep on losing by big scores, and they don’t want that. […]I don’t think there is another reason. It’s like we were punished for qualifying.”
In any case, there is really no justifiable reason to starve Egyptian women footballers of national team action, even in the instance of a major overhaul. Yes, the senior men’s national team is the most successful on the continent, but at no time during their terrible spell of not qualifying for three straight Africa Cup of Nations (2012, 2013 and 2015) were they denied the indescribable joy of international competitions.
Last year, the first ever AFCON to be played in the summer was staged in Egypt, and on January 7, 2020, the Egyptian Football Association was recognised as Federation of the Year for 2019, but women’s football has continued to suffer in the North African country.
U-20 WOMEN Egypt will not feature in the qualification series of the 2020 Women’s Africa Cup of Nations, but there is an U-20 team looking to qualify for this year’s FIFA U-20 Women’s World Cup. The country did not register an U-17 team for the FIFA U-17 Women’s World Cup qualifiers.
“The ministry of sports and the federation are now fully concentrating on the U-20 national team because they think that with them and a few other players they can have a first team in the future,” Awad told AIPS.
So after six years of hibernation, Egypt have now resurfaced on the roll call of the African U-20 Women's World Cup Qualifying Tournament. The last time they registered to take part in the competition was in 2013 and they did not even kick a ball before pulling out, like they did in 2006 and 2010. In 2008, DR Congo knocked them out in the first round.
To prepare for this year’s edition, the U-20 women participated in the Union of North African Football Federations (UNAF) U-21 Tournament hosted by Algeria in December and finished last out of the four teams featured. And their World Cup qualification journey has begun with a 5-3 home defeat at the hands of Morocco in the preliminary round, with the return leg scheduled for 2 February in Morocco. What then would be their fate if this experience ends prematurely?
CONSISTENCY IS KEY However, if this is how the Egyptian Football Association wants to rebuild the senior women’s national team, then it must apply a lot of patience and consistency, and also address the “huge gap” that has been created between youth and experience.
“The older generations, like the ones that are past 30, are already not thinking about playing for the national team again, but then there is a huge gap because there are people that are over 20 and are Under 30 and they are so good but they don’t have a national team and it’s so unfair to them,” Awad explained.
“I think that maybe in a year the federation has a plan to start the first team again but of course they are going to work super hard because, yes, there are older players but they are not experienced internationally, and the U-20s are also not as experienced, so it’s going to be a challenge.”
NOHA AND SARAH The last time Egypt participated in the qualification series of the FIFA U-17 WWC in 2016, Noha Tarek Sayed Saber emerged joint top scorer with eight goals, alongside Nigeria’s Rasheedat Ajibade. Even though she could not lift her team past the final hurdle, her performance earned her a place in the senior team that represented the country at the Women’s AFCON later that year. But not so much was heard of the soon-to-be 21-year-old after that, until she moved to Turkish club Fatih Vatan Spor from November 2018 to August 2019. Such talent does not deserve to go to waste.
Since 2017, Sarah Essam, (who is wearing jersey number 10 in the photo above) has been hogging the headlines as the first Egyptian woman to compete in the FA Women's Premier League after joining Stoke City at age 18. She scored 12 goals in 12 appearances for the club’s development team in the 2018/2019 season to take home the golden boot award. However, her best football memory lies in representing her country at the FIFA U-17 WWC qualifiers in 2016. She was selected for the senior team in the same year, played in the qualifications for the Women’s AFCON, but failed to make the final squad to Cameroon. Then last year, she was part of the BBC’s commentary team for the men’s AFCON staged in her country. Now the question is, when would she have another chance to proudly don her national team colours?
PROUDEST MOMENT Awad, herself, was part of the senior national team set up for nine years (2007-2016), of which they only participated in qualifying tournaments from 2012 to 2016.
“The memories I have of the national team are very nice memories that I will carry with me for the rest of my life. The pride of representing your country and doing something that brings pride to a people is something that no money can buy. My proudest moment in all my football career was qualifying for the Africa Cup of Nations from Cote d’ Ivoire, playing away and waving the Egyptian flag up high, making history, that was just the proudest moment.”
IN SPITE OF A 'SMALL FRAME' But the experience was not without its downsides. Awad was very rarely considered good enough to start games. “I would be among the substitutes, but hardly ever subbed in, and it was because of my small frame.” A coach “jokingly” told her: “You’re very short and small.”
“This was very unfair to me,” Awad said. “And the first time I ever started a game for the national team was against the Ivory Coast in Egypt, playing as a left back, which is not my position - I don’t even play with my left foot. But it was such a challenge for me and I was very determined to fight for myself and for my team and to prove to everyone that I deserve this and that I was mistreated for so long.”
Egypt enjoyed a 1-0 victory over their more experienced Ivorian counterparts, who participated in the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup, and Awad was named the best player in the match. “It is something that I am very, very, very proud of. I showed everyone that my size was never a barrier to me, it was just a barrier to them because they never saw past it. But I saw past it and I believed in myself… and of course I would like to thank the coaching staff; I was lucky that they were not pressured to making certain choices.”
After the Women’s AFCON in 2016, Awad called time on her international career, having achieved everything she wanted to with the national team, but not having enough game time in Cameroon left a sour taste in her mouth. “Despite being one of the best in the qualifiers, I just got five minutes of play at the Africa Cup of Nations, which is a shame, but I don’t want to get into details because I don’t want to be pointing any fingers.”
PLAYING ABROAD At club level, Awad revealed that the one regret she has is not playing abroad. “During my professional years when I could play abroad, there were no chances for me to be seen because in the national team we didn’t play a lot abroad, and we didn’t have someone coming to film the matches, and us having copies. Since 2002 I think I just have five or six matches of myself. Technology now makes it easier for the current generations to play abroad.
“When I was 28 or 29 I had a lot of good commitments here in Egypt that I couldn’t ignore and go play abroad, and if there is one thing in my career that I didn’t achieve, it is playing abroad - that was a dream I had that I never got to fulfil, I guess.”
WADI DEGLA Still, Awad boasts a trophy-laden stint with Wadi Degla from 2011 to 2019 in her CV. She played for Vacsera (three years) and Dakhleya (five years) before moving to the “best” women’s club in Egypt. With Wadi Degla, she attended invitational tournaments in Germany (2013) and Lebanon (2017).
“I came to the best club in Egypt, with the best players, so it was a challenge to be in the starting 11 but it’s something that I was able to achieve. I became one of the most important players throughout my years in Wadi Degla and this is something I’m very proud of.
“I guess we were just used to winning all the time. It was not a question of ‘do we want to win?’ it's a question of ‘how are we going to win?’ and we were always determined no matter what. The support of the management and the coaches really helped us too.”
Awad refused to go into details about why she left Wadi Degla in 2019 for SAK, instead she said: “I really appreciate the years and the titles I’ve won with Wadi Degla. It’s the biggest step in my career and I will always cherish the time I spent at the club.”
EGYPT WOMEN'S PREMIER LEAGUE The Egypt Women’s Premier League is, however, “very sad to talk about” this season, according to Awad.
“Out of 12 teams, there are just nine teams still playing. Two teams called it quits before the season even started. I have no idea why the federation didn’t call up two teams from the second division. I have no idea. And during the season, one club had problems with its management and did not continue... So out of 12 teams we are now just nine, and if anything, I would say that the federation should have solved this problem before the season even started.”
When asked if the wages from football are enough to make a living, Awad said: “No, sadly, the wages have never been enough so there’s always something else on the side, which is a shame because as a female footballer you can’t fully concentrate on football.” She added that the situation does not motivate girls to be committed.
GENDER EQUALITY With the Equal Playing Field (EPF) Initiative, Awad was set to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania, Africa's highest peak, in 2017, to play the highest altitude game of football in history and raise awareness for gender equality across the world. “I wanted to do that to honour my sister’s memory,” she said. “She also fought for women’s rights but passed away in 2016 at the age of 26, and I actually wanted to climb the mountain for her but sadly in 2017, around the time when I was supposed to climb the mountain, my mother was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and after a short fight with the sickness she also passed away at the end of 2017. So I didn’t get the chance to climb the mountain with them.”
Awad, who was born in Kuwait because her parents used to work there, holds a Bachelor's degree in Mass Communications, majoring in advertising and public relations. But football remains her passion, and while still playing, she has already started coaching girls that are aged between 11 and 13. “I have a lot of experience to pass on to the younger generations and this is what I would love to do.”
