“We come from a family that loves football and all of its members are talented and smart.”
This is how Egyptian singing legend Mohamed Mounir described his family, explaining its relationship with football.
A Nubian family in the far south of Egypt loves football. This is the environment in which Mohamed Mounir grew up when he was a child.
Although Mounir did not follow the path of football in his life and turned to the world of singing and music, in which he almost reached the end and achieved what no other Egyptian singer had achieved, his love for the round witch never left him.
Mohamed Mounir, like the majority of the Egyptian people, loves football and follows it well. He gets excited during matches, gets nervous, and rejoices when his favorite team wins.
Here, we will try together to know more about Mohamed Mounir’s relationship with football, and there is no better occasion for this conversation than King Mounir’s birthday.
Today, October 10, 2023, Mohamed Mounir celebrates his 69th birthday.
That is why FilGoal.com presents to you Mohamed Mounir and the ball.
Mounir has been linked to his love of football since his childhood, especially since all his family members love football and support Zamalek.
That’s why Mounir, since his childhood, used to watch Zamalek matches and sometimes attend them from the stadium to support his favorite team.
Mounir says: “When I was a child, I used to go with my brothers, may God have mercy on them, to attend Zamalek matches. At that time, I was obsessed with Zamalek and would go to watch Hamada Imam, Raafat Attia, Abdo Nashi, Ahmed Refaat, and other stars of the White Castle.”
The king of Egyptian song adds “I come from a football family whose members are all talented and keen and support Zamalek, and my father’s family and my mother gave Zamalek 18 fans.”
Mounir’s love story for Zamalek Club has continued with him from childhood until now, but it has taken many forms due to the nature of Mohamed Mounir’s life and field of work, and certainly his wide fame that has transcended the borders of Egypt and the Arab world and reached Europe and many countries of the world.
Al-King, as the Egyptian public calls him, speaks by saying: “After I became famous and Al-Ahly fans encouraged and protected me, I became affiliated with both clubs, Al-Ahly and Zamalek, and although I am somewhat partial to Zamalek, I love Al-Ahly fans at the same time, and I cannot deny this matter.”
Zamalek and Al-Ahly encouragement crisis
I do not remember a single problem for Mohamed Mounir throughout his career with singing and music, and to try to find a single problem for him you have to search a lot and a lot to find out, but the matter is different with football. You may find yourself in the middle of 100 crises because of a statement whose number of words does not exceed 4 words. This is what happened with Mounir several years ago.
At the time of hosting Mohamed Mounir on Her Excellency’s program in 2021, and when asked about football and his love and encouragement for Zamalek, he responded shockingly, saying: “I was a fan of Zamalek, but now I love Al-Ahly players and I wrote a tweet in support of them before the Bayern Munich match in the Club World Cup, even though I am a fan of the German club.”
And here the world began and was no longer what it was due to the statement of Mounir, known as one of Zamalek’s fans, during which he announced that he would stop supporting Zamalek and move to Al-Ahly.
A statement that is no less important than the transfer of a player from Zamalek to Al-Ahly or vice versa, and you can simply compare the matter to the transfer of Imam Ashour, the former Zamalek player, to Al-Ahly several months after he left the White Castle.
The matter at the time was no less important in the football media than the Imam Ashour deal.
But Mounir quickly remedied the matter, corrected his statements, and appeared several days later on Zamalek TV to clarify his position.
Mounir said: “My statement about Zamalek was in a moment of anger. I am Zamalek, as everyone knows, and I also love Al-Ahly.”
He stressed “I seem brave and coherent, but during Zamalek matches I get extremely nervous.”
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Let us go back several years specifically to the year 2010, the time of the World Cup qualifiers and the match between Egypt and Algeria, which at that time turned into a conflict between the two countries and the Egyptian and Algerian fans that went far beyond the scope of football.
At that time, Mohamed Mounir intervened to ease the tension between the Egyptian and Algerian audiences and took the initiative to resolve the crisis. He actually held a large concert in Egypt in cooperation with Cheb Khaled, the Algerian rai singer star.
Some of Mohamed Mounir’s songs are always appropriate for football celebrations and are used by the Egyptian public to celebrate the victories of the Egyptian national team, such as the song “Helwa Biladi” by the artist Warda Al-Jazairia, which Mounir re-sang.
The melodies of some of Mounir’s songs, which instill enthusiasm in the listener, made football fans use them to cheer in the stadium stands.
Al-Ahly fans, for example, quoted one of Mounir’s songs and sang a song of their own to its tune (Teach me about you) Which Mounir sang in 1977 in his first album, and the red audience turned it into a song with the same melody (100 years, my people, Koura).
Mounir and Salah
Mohamed Mounir, as everyone knows, is a huge fan of Mohamed Salah, the Liverpool star and captain of the Egyptian national team, who has been following his professional career from its beginning until now. King Mohamed Salah, who is also called the Egyptian King, is considered one of Egypt’s ambassadors abroad and one of the honorable role models.
Mounir says about Salah: “Mohamed Salah, with his morals and talent, confirms that Egypt has many role models capable of honoring our country abroad.”
Mounir and the World Cup
King Mounir also had an unforgettable moment when Egypt qualified for the 2018 World Cup with the foot of Mohamed Salah, who took the penalty kick in the fatal hour against Congo.
Mounir remembers this moment, saying: “For me, it meant a state of thirst for victory and that Egypt’s name would resonate throughout the world. This is similar to what I try to do throughout my journey with singing and music between Egypt and Europe.”
Yazid Muhammad Mounir “At this moment, I felt proud that my country’s name would be with the rest of the teams participating in the World Cup.”
Mounir and Shikabala
Just as Mohamed Mounir loves Zamalek and Mohamed Salah, he very much loves Shikabala, the leader of the white team, and he revealed this more than once, to the point that the King called Shikabala the nickname Mohamed Mounir, Egyptian football.
On the other hand, Shikabala certainly loves Mounir very much. So much so that when he scored goals, he celebrated by imitating Mohamed Mounir’s way of singing.
Mounir talks about the Zamalek captain, saying: “Shikabala, this is a whole other topic, but he doesn’t listen to what I say.”
As for Shikabala, he talks about Al-Kanij, saying: “I have loved Mohamed Mounir since my childhood, and after I became a football player I was able to reach him, and when I met him for the first time, he said to me, ‘You are the Mohamed Mounir of Egyptian football.’”
Shikabala continues “When I started participating and playing with Zamalek, Mohamed Mounir called me and confirmed that he supported and encouraged me, so during this period, when I scored goals, I celebrated in his way of singing.”
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Mohamed Mounir does not miss an opportunity or occasion to show his role as one of Egypt’s stars in trying to calm the public and direct them not to be fanatic and fabricate anything outside the text, and this is what Al-King did before the match between Al-Ahly and Al-Hilal of Sudan.
Last season, in the CAF Champions League groups, Al-Ahly played against Al-Hilal of Sudan in the final round, and Al-Ahmar had to win to qualify for the quarter-finals.
But weeks before the match, there was a major attack on the part of the Sudanese side at the management, media and public levels against Al-Ahly, its fans and Egypt.
Which prompted Mohamed Mounir to come out and send a message to the public in which he said: “The meeting between Al-Ahly and Al-Hilal…the meeting of one nation…the homeland of Egypt and Sudan…Sudan is Egypt. Everyone must know that we are one people playing football, and tomorrow the value of one nation and one heart will be confirmed. My love for one people, the nation is Egypt-Sudan, Sudan is Egypt.”
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In the end… Mohamed Mounir is considered one of the most important singers in the history of Egypt ever, and he created a musical form for himself in which no one competes with him except himself.
A long journey with singing and music that began in 1977 and continues until now, during which King Mounir sang many songs that will remain eternal in the memory and changed the form of Arabic music.
During this journey that extended for more than 46 years, despite work, thinking, and life amidst music and singing, football had a large part in Mohamed Mounir’s life, which also influenced his personality.
Here, whether you are a football fan in general or a fan of Mohamed Mounir in particular, let us say to him on his birthday, Happy New Year.
