CAIRO: French Arsenal football champion Thierry Henry was in town for two days to attend Ahly star Walid Salah El Din’s farewell match and to support Pepsi’s School League program.
The main purpose of the four-year-old program is to seek talent for the major Egyptian football clubs and enhance the level of play.
“Kids are asked to try to make their journey to try to reach a club . but not everyone has that opportunity, said Henry, praising the League’s role in increasing opportunities. “It’s amazing.
To date 44 young talents have been taken up by the four largest teams, Ahly, Zamalek, Enppi, and Mokawloon.
Henry said he was “surprised and amazed at what [the participants] can do with a ball at their age. I couldn’t do what they were doing at that age.
Earlier in the day, Henry was present for the League’s champion players to show off their tricks and talents to a packed audience of League participants in Medinat Nasr Club.
Injured and visibly weary though, Henry did not show off any of his own footwork.
Minister of Education Yousry El Gamal, whose ministry supports the program, said he hoped it would set an example for other companies and in other sports.
When asked whether any concerted effort would be made to instill certain values through the League, Pepsi President Ayman Ismail told The Daily Star Egypt that “value is at the heart of the program.
Ismail says incentives are provided to teachers and parents to pick the best players and to help with the process. He also added that the League ensures that players are dealt with in “a most appropriate way.
Ismail says Pepsi is investigating the possibility of a girl’s football league.
The School League program, taken up by Pepsi after it deteriorated in its early stages under the Ministry of Education, involved all 27 governorates, 7,500 public and private schools, and 55,000 participants from both Elementary and Secondary schools this year. Participants are nominated by teachers who choose the best talents in their schools.
On other topics, Henry did not reject the possibility of transferring to Barcelona club, denied rumors he was Muslim though he studied and respected the religion, and said he was neither a Chelsea nor Manchester United fan but that he did want Liverpool to win in their Champions League game against Milan.
