"Fear God when it comes to Egypt: why all this spite?": Ibrahim Hassan breaks his silence and defends his brother with fiery messages

They will not be able to bring us down

Ibrahim Hassan, the manager of the Egypt national team, has broken his silence to mount a fierce defence of his brother Hossam Hassan, the head coach of the Pharaohs, against the criticism levelled at him in recent weeks. In doing so, he revealed shocking personal and health details about his brother's suffering and sacrifices for the national team, while firing sharp messages at certain media figures and former colleagues.

The remarks came via his personal account on "Facebook", amid growing talk about the future of the Egyptian coaching staff. Media reports had revealed that the Egyptian Football Association are considering removing Hossam Hassan from his post, despite his having led the Pharaohs to qualification for the round of 16 at the 2026 World Cup.

He opened with a blunt message for those attacking his brother, questioning why anyone would want to spoil the joy of Egyptian fans. "Fear God when it comes to Egypt," he wrote. "Why do you want to break the joy of good people and of the children who have gone back to memorising their team's shirt and emblem and the colours of the Egyptian flag? Ask Egyptians living abroad about their children who had almost forgotten the colours and shape of their country's flag, but who remembered the gathering of the people and their joy during and after the matches, and remembered the respect of the whole world for the Egypt national team."

"Remember Hossam Hassan, the loyal man who loves his country, who sacrifices himself in order to make Egypt happy," he added. "Which of us is without mistakes or trials in his life? Despite all his personal circumstances, he has a job and his country's name, and he leaves everything behind him for the sake of the national team. Why do we fight like this at every situation? And why does the fierce war against us begin before every camp?"

The national team manager then turned to what he called a wave of rancour and unjustified attacks from some of his former colleagues and media figures. The coaching staff's successes, he insisted, should be a reason to back the project rather than belittle it.

"Why all this spite from colleagues with whom we used to eat from one plate, and with whom we carried one emblem, the flag of Egypt?" he said. "And why this constant attack from most of the media figures, and the belittling of any success we achieve, in every matter big and small? Why do we exaggerate the small things and forget the roots on which the Egyptian people were raised?"

He also had a message for the coaches who want the job. Success for the current regime, he argued, might open the door for them later, whereas failure would only make the association more cautious in its choices.

"A piece of advice and a message to the colleagues who wish to be in his place," he explained. "The success of myself and Hossam is what will later give you the opportunity to be in his place, because the decision-maker will feel reassured by our experience and will give you your chance without fear, instead of resorting to a foreign coach. But if I fail, the opportunity will not come to you."

Then came the most striking part of his message. Ibrahim Hassan revealed that his brother suffered repeated heart crises during camps, matches and qualifiers, and that he underwent delicate medical procedures that almost ended in tragedy.

"There is a piece of information I did not want to reveal," he said. "Do you know that Hossam suffered more than once during the camps, matches and qualifiers from angina, and that he was saved with electric shocks in the final moments? And after a short period he underwent the fitting of stents, then he entered the operating room again a month later, and they told me the operation would take only an hour so that I would not feel afraid."

He waited for his brother to come out of surgery while the doctors tried to reassure him with various explanations for the delay. The truth, which he only discovered later during a hospital visit for his own tests, was far more serious.

"A few days later I went to the hospital for routine tests, and I met the doctor who performed the operation by chance, and he told me he had been hiding from me the reason for the delay, which was that there was a high probability that Hossam would not come out of the operating room alive, because the operation was on the arteries of the heart and was extremely complicated," he continued.

Another difficult moment came during the Brazil match. Hossam could not walk or stand normally after the operation, yet he insisted on appearing in front of the players and the cameras so that nobody would notice his condition and the morale of the squad would not drop.

"After the operation he was not able to walk or stand, and the situation was extremely difficult," he said. "So that the cameras or the players would not notice anything that would affect their morale, I asked him to sit down, but he insisted on standing on the touchline."

Only a tiny circle of close people knew these details, Ibrahim Hassan stressed, among them his brother, the doctor Mohamed Abu El Ela and the medical staff at the hospital. He closed by vowing that none of this suffering would stop the pair working with the national team.

"No one knew all these details, not even my brothers, except for Doctor Mohamed Abu El Ela and the team of doctors at the hospital," he said. "Forgive me, it is an unburdening because of all this ingratitude and the wars that Hossam and I are subjected to, but they will not be able to bring us down or stop us, because Egypt deserves this sacrifice from us."

The Egyptian Football Association issued an official statement today, Saturday, calling for calm and solidarity. It urged the media and the fans to steer clear of escalation and the kind of reactions that could affect the national team's preparations for the upcoming fixtures.

Egypt now prepare to face Malawi in the third and fourth rounds of qualifying for the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations, during the current month of November. Both Hossam and Ibrahim Hassan will be absent from the pitch, serving a 3-match suspension handed down by FIFA in the wake of the Egypt and Argentina match at the 2026 World Cup.

The Pharaohs sit in the second group of the qualifiers alongside Angola, South Sudan and Malawi. Egypt lead the standings with 4 points, ahead of Angola on goal difference, while Malawi are third with 3 points and South Sudan prop up the table without a point.

Egypt opened their qualifying campaign with a goalless draw against Angola on home soil, before rediscovering their rhythm with a crushing 5-0 win away to South Sudan.