Mohamed Saleh Mohamed Selim (; 11 September 1930 – 6 May 2002) was an

Egyptian ''Egyptian'' describes something of, from, or related to Egypt. Egyptian or Egyptians may refer to: Nations and ethnic groups * Egyptians, a national group in North Africa ** Egyptian culture, a complex and stable culture with thousands of year ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

executive, former football player and an actor. He was the 13th president of

Al Ahly SC Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an List of football clubs in Egypt, Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional Association football, football team which curren ...

. Nicknamed "El Maestro", for taking

Al Ahly Al-Ahly Sporting Club (), commonly known as Al-Ahly, is an Egyptian professional sports club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is mainly known for its professional football team which currently plays in the Egyptian Premier League, the highest ...

's football team to numerous victories. He then became the manager of the team, then a member of the board of directors of the club. He finally became one of the most successful presidents of the club.

Early life

Saleh was born on 11 September 1930 in

Dokki Dokki ( , is one of nine districts that make up Giza city, which is part of Greater Cairo, in Egypt. Dokki is situated on the western bank of the Nile, directly across from Downtown Cairo. It is a vital residential and commercial district wi ...

Giza Giza (; sometimes spelled ''Gizah, Gizeh, Geeza, Jiza''; , , ' ) is the third-largest city in Egypt by area after Cairo and Alexandria; and fourth-largest city in Africa by population after Kinshasa, Lagos, and Cairo. It is the capital of ...

, and his father is Dr. Mohamed Selim, a pioneer of

Anesthesiology Anesthesiology, anaesthesiology or anaesthesia is the medical specialty concerned with the total perioperative medicine, perioperative care of patients before, during and after surgery. It encompasses anesthesia, intensive care medicine, critica ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

. Selim's father met his mother, Zein El Sharaf, while she was undergoing surgery at his hospital. He married her and she gave birth to three males. Saleh was the eldest, followed by Abdel Wahab and Tareq. Saleh Selim had been a footballer since childhood. In Dokki, Giza. He joined the Orman Junior High School team, then the high school team during his studies at the Saadia school in the same district.

Playing career

Club career

Selim joined

club in 1944 as a football player. He was discovered by Mr. Hassan Kamel, a supervisor of the club's team. He quickly succeeded in proving his presence and talent, and was promoted to the first team at the age of seventeen. He played his first game (friendly) in front of Al Masry in 1948, and

won 2-1 with Saleh scoring the winning goal. His first official game was against Alexandria in the third week of the Egyptian league championship season of 1948 where Al Ahly achieved victory. Selim won 9 consecutive League titles with Al Ahly (1948–49 To 1958–59) (Egyptian all-time Record). He scored 92 Goals for

, 78 in the Egyptian League and 14 in the Egypt Cup. Saleh Selim was the first Egyptian soccer player in Austria and it was a "transfer-sensation" when he joined

Grazer AK Grazer Athletiksport Klub (; abbreviated as GAK), better known simply as Grazer AK, is an Austrian sports club based in the city of Graz in the federal state of Styria. The football section was once among Austria's most popular clubs, enjoying s ...

and scored 3 goals in 6 championship-games (10/6 with friendly-games included) for the oldest

Styria Styria ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

n football club during the 1962–63 season. He retired from football in 1967.

International career

His first international appearance for the Egypt national team was in a match against

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

in Eastern Mediterranean Cup on 1 February 1950, when Egypt won 3–0. He was a part of the team that participated in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome. Selim was also a part of the team that participated in the

1959 African Cup of Nations The 1959 African Cup of Nations was the second edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the Football (soccer), football championship between the national teams of Africa, organised by the Confederation of African Football (Confederation of African Fo ...

, where Egypt won the tournament. He played for his country in the 1962 edition and where they finished second, he played 3 games in the

Africa Cup of Nations The Africa Cup of Nations, commonly abbreviated as AFCON and officially known as the TotalEnergies Africa Cup of Nations for sponsorship reasons, is the main biennial international men's association football competition in Africa. It is s ...

and scored 1 Goal.

Management career

After his retirement from football, Selim was appointed Al Ahly Football Director in 1971. He was elected Al Ahly Club Board Member 1972. In 1980, he was elected the president of Al Ahly. He was then re-elected five successive times, from 12 December 1980 till 16 December 1988 & from 6 February 1992 till 6 May 2002, he was elected five times; 1980, 1984, 1992, 1996 and 2000. During his presidency, Al-Ahly was elected the African club of the century. On 22 May 2001 Saleh received the award in

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu language, Zulu and Xhosa language, Xhosa: eGoli ) (colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, Jo'burg or "The City of Gold") is the most populous city in South Africa. With 5,538,596 people in the City of Johannesburg alon ...

. He died in 2002 of

liver cancer Liver cancer, also known as hepatic cancer, primary hepatic cancer, or primary hepatic malignancy, is cancer that starts in the liver. Liver cancer can be primary in which the cancer starts in the liver, or it can be liver metastasis, or secondar ...

Film career

He co-starred in the 1962 film ''Black Candles'' directed by Ezz El-Dine Zulficar, with Nagat El-Sagheera in the leading role where she sang her widely known song "Do not lie". He also acted in the 1963 film '' The Open Door'' directed by

Henry Barakat Henry Antoun Barakat (, 11 June 1914, Cairo – 27 May 1997, Cairo) was a well known Egyptian film director. Biography He was born in Shubra to a Melkite Greek Catholic father of Syro-Lebanese descent, and a Syro-Lebanese mother. His fathe ...

, starring

Faten Hamama Faten Ahmed Hamama (, ; 27 May 1931 – 17 January 2015) was an Egyptian film and television actress and film producer. She made her screen debut in 1939, when she was only seven years old. Her earliest roles were minor, but her activity an ...

.
1962 Film starring Najat Al Saghira “Black Candles”, accessed 2015/08/12.

Personal life

Selim was born in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

in 1930. His father Mohamed Selim was a renowned physician. He had two younger brothers, Abdelwahab and Tariq Selim. He was married and has two sons Khaled and Hisham Selim who was an actor.

Honours

Egypt *

1959 Events January * January 1 – Cuba: Fulgencio Batista flees Havana when the forces of Fidel Castro advance. * January 2 – Soviet lunar probe Luna 1 is the first human-made object to attain escape velocity from Earth. It reaches the ...

; runner up:

1962 The year saw the Cuban Missile Crisis, which is often considered the closest the world came to a Nuclear warfare, nuclear confrontation during the Cold War. Events January * January 1 – Samoa, Western Samoa becomes independent from Ne ...

Al Ahly * 11

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League (), also known as the Nile League () for sponsorship reasons, after the addition of title sponsor Nile Developments, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the highest level of the Egyptian football ...

titles * 8

Egypt Cup The Egypt Cup (also known as the Egyptian FA Cup and formerly as the King Farouk Cup) is the main knockout football cup competition in Egypt. It is the oldest club competition in Africa. The first team to win the trophy was Zamalek in 1922. Al A ...

titles

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Selim, Saleh 1930 births 2002 deaths Footballers from Cairo Egyptian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Egypt men's international footballers Al Ahly SC players Cairo University alumni Egyptian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Egyptian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Grazer AK players 1959 African Cup of Nations players 1962 African Cup of Nations players Africa Cup of Nations–winning players Footballers at the 1960 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Egypt Egyptian Premier League players Deaths from liver cancer in England 20th-century Egyptian sportsmen