Amman - Arabstoday
Egyptian football icon Mahmoud al-Gohari
Former Egyptian football icon Mahmoud al-Gohari died on Monday aged 74 from a stroke. He was taken to a hospital in the Jordanian capital of Amman on Friday. Al-Gohari’s family had denied reports of his death which circulated in the media Saturday.
Egyptian stars of the national team\'s golden era Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan headed to Jordan to be beside their former coach al-Gohari who turned them into stars along with the rest of the “Pharoahs” team.
Al-Gohari’s family arrived in Jordan to arrange for the body to be transported to Cairo for burial in a family cemetery.
He played for Egypt\'s top team, al-Ahly between 1955 and 1961, but injury forced him off the pitch.
Al-Gohari is considered the dean of Arab coaches as he succeeded in leading Egypt to major achievements in a number of tournaments, the most outstanding was reaching the finals of the 1990 world cup in Italy, winning the African Cup of Nations in 1998 and winning the 1992 Arab Nations Cup in Syria.
Al-Gohari also lead several sports clubs in Egypt and the Arab Gulf including Egyptian al-Ahli and al-Zamalek, the Saudi Ittihad Jeddah club and the Emirates Al-Wahda football club.
Al-Gohari started working as a coach for the Jordanian team in 2002 and was later appointed expert and planner for Jordanian football since his official retirement from coaching.