Taha Basry

Club career

Taha Basry joined the youth teams of Zamalek in the late 1950s. He played all of his youth career in Zamalek. He showed brilliance in the youth leagues and he was transferred for Zamalek’s first team in the 1965-66 season.

Basry emerged quickly among his generation in the 1960s. The Egyptian "Eusebio" (nickname by Egyptian audience) performed with excellence in the Zamalek’s match against West Ham United in November 1966, which Zamalek won by a score of 5-1, and Basry scored one goal, while other goals were scored by Hamada Emam (three goals) and Abdel-Karim El-Gohary. He played for two seasons from 1966–67, becoming a key player for the team. After football activity stopped following the 1967 War. He had spent three seasons with Zamalek between training, friendly matches, and foreign trips, when Ismaily hired him to participate with them in the African Champions League. In 1970-71 season, he obtained the conditional dismissal from Zamalek to play for the Kuwaiti Al Arabi. He played in the AFC Club Championship alongside fellow Egyptian and Zamalek colleague Hassan Shehata. His team won the Emir Cup once and the Kuwait Joint League twice with Al Arabi, and he continued to play in Kuwait until June 1974.

In a press interview, before leaving to join Zamalek, Basry stated:"The most beautiful goal that I am proud of was with Ismaily on a trip to Tunisia in 1970 against the Espérance Sportive de Tunis, where I scored a hat-trick and I am proud of the third…

After his retirement, Basry worked as director of football in Zamalek, afterwards, he coached Zamalek and other Egyptian clubs, such as Ghazl El Mahalla, Enppi, El Mokawloon, Ismaily, Al Ittihad Alexandria, Haras El Hodood, Talaea El Gaish, and Petrojet. Working as an assistant coach, Basry was a part of the technical staff of the Egypt national football team that won the 1986 African Cup of Nations. At the youth national team level, Basry led the Egypt national under-17 football team to the 1987 FIFA U-16 World Championship in Canada. He was assistant coach of the first national team that won the 1986 African Cup of Nations in Egypt. He was the first to lead Enppi after its promotion to the Egyptian Premier league in the 2003 season, and he was able to achieve the league’s biggest surprises this season when he led his team to victory over Al Ahly in the final round of the tournament with a clean sheet, which removed Al Ahly from topping the competition table and gave traditional rivals Zamalek the title. The best honor for him this season was that he received the title of best coach in Egypt, due to his impressive results with the newly promoted team from the second division league, and his career with the team culminated in his leadership to win the Egypt Cup in the 2004-05 season. He was credited as a prominent football figure with high morals.

Career as manager

Manager of Egyptian national team in 1987 FIFA U-17 World Cup Previous manager of Egyptian national team in 1987 FIFA U-17 World Cup Previous Manager of Zamalek, Ghazl El Mahalla, ENPPI & Al Moqaweloon Al Arab Previous Manager of Ismaily Manager of Al-Ittihad Al-Sakndary from 2008 to 2009

Taha Basry Bekheit Mokhtar was born on October 2, 1946 in the village of El-Gabal El-Asfar, Qalyubiyya, near the capital Cairo. He comes from a middle class family, with Upper Egyptian roots from southern Aswan. In the fields of El-Gabal El-Asfar, Taha Basry emerged as one of the football talents.