Egypt head coach Hossam Hassan sparked widespread praise on social media after delivering an emotional speech supporting Palestinians during a Fifa World Cup press conference on Monday, ahead of Egypt’s match against Argentina.
Speaking in Arabic, Hassan said: “If there is one person in the world who does not feel for the Palestinian people, then he is not a human being,” adding that this applied regardless of whether the person was “Arab, European, American or anything else”.
He criticised global indifference to the suffering of Palestinians, saying that while people often mobilise when an animal is harmed, “every day human beings are killed in their thousands, children and women”.
Hassan also appealed to athletes and media professionals to use football’s global platform to speak up, describing the sport as global “soft power".
“Please, please, all athletes and media professionals, regardless of their religions and countries, maybe through the World Cup, we can send a message: please let the Palestinian people live. They do not want anything, just to live.”