Egyptian goalkeeper coach Abdo dies from Covid-19

The Egyptian Football Association (EFA) paid tribute to goalkeeper coach Mohamed Abdo, who died from the novel coronavirus last week.

He died on May 11.

Abdo (59), who was the goalkeeping coach at Egyptian Third Division side FC Badr, tested positive for Covid-19 and was undergoing treatment in Kafr El-Dawar, about 180 kilometres from the capital Cairo.

“The Egyptian football family is saddened by the news of his death. We send our condolences to his family. May they have patience during this difficult period,” EFA said in a statement.

Football activities have been suspended in Egypt since mid-March due to the pandemic, with 13 484 infections reported by Tuesday.

There have been 659 deaths in the country. Egypt did well initially in limiting the spread of the virus with its first reported case on February 15, and it’s second on March 2. Since then, however, the numbers have steadily increased as they stood at 5895 cases by May 1 and now have more than doubled this month alone.

Egypt has been hit particularly hard economically during the pandemic, with many professional soccer players attempting to find alternate sources of income.

Egypt are currently ranked seventh in Africa and 51st in the Fifa world rankings. The national team have fallen consistently in the rankings after reaching 19th in the world in 2017. In fact, going back to 2011, Egypt were ranked as high as 10th in the world.

In partnership with ANA and Sports Leo