FCBARCELONA.CAT
Main menu
Content menu
Football
23.04.2007 13:27
Cairo awaits the European Champions
Barça fly off to Egypt on Monday for a friendly against the country’s most famous team and current African Champions, Al-Ahly. The match, which is to celebrate the club’s centenary, is completely sold out.
Frank Rijkaard’s men go to Cairo on Monday to take on Al Ahly, a club with more than 50 million followers, which took part together with Barça in the last World Club Champions in Japan.
The centenary
Al Ahly celebrates its centenary this Tuesday and has invited the reigning European Champion to mark the occasion. The match is scheduled to kick off at 9.30 pm local time.
Monday’s schedule
After training on Monday, the squad will take a specially chartered plane to Cairo where they are due to land at about 8.30 pm. Half an hour later, Frank Rijkaard and Club captain Carles Puyol will give a press conference for local reporters. There will also be an official dinner for directors of both clubs in the Hotel Marriott. The Barça party will be led by vice-president Alfons Godall, directors Joan Boix and Albert Perrín, and director of football Txiki Begiristain.
Embassy visit
On Monday morning, the Barça party will attend a reception at the Spanish embassy where they will be received by the ambassador Antonio López Martínez. At 12 noon, the Arabic version of the Club website will be officially unveiled.
Children to meet the players
At 12.45, FC Barcelona will visit the training grounds of the FCB Football School in Cairo. Some 250 children will get the chance to meet and be photographed with Frank Rijkaard and some of the players in the hotel where the team is staying.
The match in the Cairo International Stadium
The main event of the day – the match between the current European and African champions – will kick off At 9.30 pm in the Cairo International Stadium. All 74,000 tickets have already been sold for what is the city’s biggest stadium. The team with the biggest following in Egypt against the most widely admired team outside of Egypt.
The team is due back in Barcelona at about two o’clock on Thursday afternoon.
Passion for Barça
Barça has long been a popular team in Egypt. Local journalists told us that the main interest dates
back to the time of Johan Cruyff. Cruyff, Maradona and Romario were the reference points for these
long-distance fans. The recent successes of the Barça team led by Frank Rijkaard, Ronaldinho, Eto'o
and Messi, among others, has rekindled the huge local interest in our Club.
