The Egyptian amputee football team has hired a new foreign coach in preparation for the Africa Cup of Nations. Abeer Anwar interviews the man at the helm and one of the team’s pioneer players
Evrain Uyanik, the new coach of the Egyptian amputee football team, started training in Turkey 15 years ago. He won the Premier League title for amputee football and the second division title with Izmir Club, and third place finishes in the league three times.
He collected as a coach the bronze medal at the Turkish Cup. He also won two silver medals in the league.
Uyanik, 41, started his career as a player in Auntay Club. After two years he shifted to Çakmak Club. As a player, he won the league title twice with Auntay.
Turkey has been a world champion in amputee football for years.
As to why he decided to come to Egypt to train the team, Uyanik said that after he had worked for a number of years as a coaching assistant for the Turkish national team, “I decided that I need to train internationally and professionally. I am sure that the Egyptian national team is strong as I heard a lot from Mahmoud Abdel-Azim (one of the pioneering amputee players in Egypt, is Egypt’s team captain, and plays professionally in Turkey).
“So I was so excited to come to Cairo and train the team. I knew that the Egyptian team has its own plans and are very good at football in addition to preparing to compete in the Africa Cup of Nations for the first time. I thought this is the right time for me to take over and work with the team.
“Abdel-Azim also convinced me that Egypt needs to train a number of coaches in amputee football to be able to take over as coaches in the national clubs and to start having a national league for the game.”
Uyanik added that he goes out every Friday to see the players and juniors who are training at Samir and Ali Academy to choose the best players for the national amputee team.
He thinks that Egyptian players are talented but need a lot of training to be able to connect their physical abilities with tactical plans drawn up for them. “They have to work their minds along with their physical ability.
“I am targeting a medal at the African Championship. It does not matter what the colour of the medal is as long as we are still preparing a well-built national team.”
As to the team’s participation in the upcoming International Poland Championship for amputee football, “I am preparing the national team well for this event to reach its utmost as it is a very important championship where we will play with world champions like Turkey, the US, Poland, and the UK.”
