Stephan el-Shaarawy has chosen Italy over Egypt on the international stage Cairo – Hossam el-Sayed AC Milan forward Stephan el-Shaarawy has angered Egyptian football fans by controversially suggesting that although he has \"a strange surname,\" he \"feels 100 percent Italian .\"
The 20-year old, who has an Egyptian father, is considered a role model in Egypt, despite having spent his entire life in Italy and turning his back on the Egyptian national team.
El-Shaarawy’s comments have ignited a debate about the status of half-Egyptian players and how the various national teams have dealt with this.
 Rabia Yassine, the manager of Egypt’s under-20 squad, has embarked on a scheme to enlist Egyptian players who also have another nationality. He is persuading them to play for Egypt in the upcoming African U-20 Championship, in Algeria in March.
Hoffenheim\'s Rhami Ghandour has already agreed to join the under-20 squad for training after obtaining his club’s permission. Under FIFA rules, players can represent multiple countries in the youth teams, before joining a football association’s senior squad.
Footballing trio Amir Adel from Dutch team PSV Eindhoven, Faris Afifi from Utrecht, and Abdallah Yaisien from French side Paris Saint Germain, all travelled to Cairo but were unable to join the national team after their clubs refused to give them permission.
However, Yassine was able to issue Egyptian ID cards, passports and all other documents enabling the players to play for Egypt, while bearing other nationalities. An administrative staff member was assigned the task of accompanying the four young men on trips to government authorities to have the documents issued.
A large number of rising Egyptian players also play in the Ukraine, the Netherlands, Hungary, Germany and Denmark. \"No player who does not truly wish to represent the Egyptian national team will be accepted,” Yassine said, adding that there must be \"complete and final agreement\" on the matter, to make sure \"the national team’s jersey is not just a means to other ends.\"
The latest developments of bringing in players from other countries have led to Egyptian football fans feeling rather uneasy about the changing flavour of the national team. The Egyptians have long criticised the Algerian national team for including players from abroad who do not even speak a word of Arabic. Now, the phenomenon has arrived at their doorstep. Britain\'s Adam El-Abd has joined the Egyptian national team, even though he does not speak Arabic, and had not visited Egypt before receiving his first cap a few months ago.
Several other Arab countries have no issue with picking foreign players to represent them, but Egyptians are uncertain about the identity of their national team and the possibility of it transforming into a non-Arab squad in the longer run, should successive managers expand their dependence on players with a dual nationality.