Crisis for Egypt Women's Football After Disastrous Wafcon Campaign Sparks Player Backlash

Following an impressive World Cup campaign by the men's team, Egypt’s Cleopatras traveled to Morocco for the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations (Wafcon) looking to maintain the national momentum. However, the women's team suffered three heavy defeats, conceding 15 goals and scoring just three to exit in the group stage. Making only their third appearance in the competition and first since 2016, Egypt qualified as one of the four highest-ranked sides eliminated in the final round after the tournament expanded from 12 to 16 teams.

Despite a population of 120 million and abundant football talent, Egypt's women's national team has historically lacked the attention and support given to the men. The squad has frequently been formed and disbanded over the past two decades with minimal structural strategy. Recently, increased funding has flowed into the domestic women's league due to Confederation of African Football (CAF) mandates requiring major men's clubs to field women's teams.

Ahead of the 2026 Wafcon, the Egyptian Football Association (EFA) provided resources for training camps and friendly matches, reappointing Mohamed Kamal as manager. Yet, following the disappointing results in Morocco—including a 6-0 loss to Zambia, 3-1 to Malawi, and 6-2 to Nigeria—Kamal faced fierce criticism from current and former players alleging favouritism, unprofessionalism, and squad division.

Sarah Essam, Egypt's first professional female player in England and Spain, was among the most vocal critics. She publicly apologised to the Egyptian public and detailed what she called a disaster within the team camp, pointing to questionable selection criteria and an alleged lack of professional boundaries under Kamal. Teammate Eman Hassan and former player Sally Mansour also voiced similar concerns on social media regarding squad selections and treatment.

In response, Kamal dismissed the players' claims as false and stated plans to take legal action against those attacking him personally, insisting that the medical staff determined player availability and claiming a systematic campaign aimed at tarnishing his image.