Ban on Hossam Hassan appearing in media outlets

Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation has banned national football team coach Hossam Hassan from appearing on “all media outlets” in connection with a case involving his personal life and his ex-wife.

Hassan was at the center of a media spat related to his private life, as his dispute with his ex-wife escalated into a public issue, prompting the Council to issue decisions it described as “a package concerning violations of rules on respecting private life,” without specifying any particular infraction or statement attributed to the coach.

In a statement, the Supreme Council for Media Regulation announced that it had decided “to ban Hossam Hassan, the head coach of the Egyptian national team, from appearing on all media outlets subject to the provisions of the law regulating press and media, effective from the date of the decision’s issuance,” without specifying an end date for the ban.

The Council also announced that the ban on his ex-wife’s appearances on all media outlets would remain in effect.

The decision comes ahead of Hassan’s expected announcement of Egypt’s squad for matches against Malawi in the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers. The two teams will face each other in Cairo on November 13, followed by a match in Lilongwe four days later.

Hossam Hassan (60) and his brother Ibrahim, the team’s manager, will miss both matches from the sidelines due to suspensions imposed by FIFA, stemming from incidents following Egypt’s Round of 16 World Cup match against Argentina, which took place in the United States, Canada, and Mexico last summer. That match saw Hassan lead Egypt to the knockout stages for the first time in the country’s history.

FIFA’s Disciplinary Committee handed Hossam Hassan and his brother Ibrahim three-match bans, while national team player Mostafa Abdel-Raouf (Zico) received a five-match suspension, for protesting the refereeing and making offensive remarks after the match, which Argentina won 3-2 in the dying moments.