Taha Basry

Taha Basry Bekheit Mokhtar was born on October 2, 1946 in the village of El-Gabal El-Asfar, Qalyubiyya. He comes from a financially middle class family, but intellectually and morally wealthy, with Upper Egyptian roots from southern Aswan. In the fields of El-Gabal El-Asfar, Taha Basry emerged as one of the football talents.

Taha Basry joined the youth teams of Zamalek in the late 1950s. He played for Zamalek’s first team in the 1965-66 season, and he quickly emerged among the generation of the 1960s. The Egyptian "Eusebio" (nickname by Egyptian audience) showed his brilliance in the Zamalek’s match against West Ham United in 1966, which Zamalek won by a score of 5-1, and Basry scored a goal.

The fans will never forget his wonderful goals, especially his historic goal with Zamalek against Derby County in the 1975 friendly in Cairo. Basry was distinguished by his powerful shooting, mastery of head kicks, and exemplary athleticism, but the most important thing that distinguished him throughout his career was his upright character. He never objected to a referee or assaulted one, or a colleague.

 

After football activity stopped following the 1967 War. He had spent three seasons with Zamalek between training, friendly matches, and foreign trips, Ismaily hired him to participate with them in the African Champions League. In 1970-71 season, he obtained the conditional dismissal from Zamalek to play for the Kuwaiti Al Arabi, Basry won the Emir Cup once and the Kuwait Joint League twice with Al Arabi, and he continued to play in Kuwait until June 1974. After the Yom Kippur War, the football competitions were resumed in Egypt, the Egyptian midfielder signed for Zamalek in May 1974. He played for six seasons and won the Egyptian Premier League, and the Egypt Cup twice with Zamalek.

Basry played for Egypt at the first time in 1966. He represented his country in a total of 60 caps, one of his most memorable matches was against Morocco in Cairo in 1971, and Egypt won by a score of 3-2. He played for his country in the 1970 African Cup of Nations and achieved the 3rd place. In the 1974 African Cup of Nations, which was held in Egypt, they achieved the 3rd place as well. In the 1976 African Cup of Nations, Egypt was ranked 4th. He scored a total of 4 goals in the Africa Cup of Nations.

After his retirement, Basry worked as director of football in Zamalek, afterwards, he coached Zamalek and other Egyptian clubs, such as Ghazl El Mahalla, Enppi, El Mokawloon, Ismaily, Al Ittihad Alexandria, Haras El Hodood, Talaea El Gaish, and Petrojet. At the national team level, Basry led the Egypt national under-17 football team to the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship in Canada. He was assistant coach of the first national team that won the 1986 African Cup of Nations in Egypt.

He was the first to lead Enppi after its promotion to the Egyptian Premier league in the 2003 season, and he was able to achieve the league’s biggest surprises this season when he led his team to victory over Al Ahly in the final round of the tournament with a clean sheet, which removed Al Ahly from topping the competition table and gave traditional rivals Zamalek the title. The best honor for him this season was that he received the title of best coach in Egypt, due to his impressive results with the newly promoted team from the second division league, and his career with the team culminated in his leadership to win the Egypt Cup in the 2004-05 season. He was credited as a prominent football figure with high morals.

Basry was transferred to the intensive care unit after undergoing tracheotomy surgery at the International Medical Center. He entered a coma as a result, and his health condition deteriorated. He died at the age of 68 on April 2, 2014.