Mahmoud Nuseir Youssef El-Gohary (Arabic: محمود نصير يوسف الجوهري; 20 February 1938 – 31 August 2012) was an Egyptian footballer and football coach.[1]
Career
As a player, El-Gohary had a short-lived career. A persistent knee injury forced him into early retirement in 1961 cut short a career full of promise. In the 1959 African Cup of Nations, which Egypt won, he ended as the top scorer in the competition. He was also part of Egypt's squad for the 1960 Summer Olympics.[2] After his retirement from the game, El-Gohary became a coach with Al Ahly, eventually becoming an assistant manager from 1965 to 1977.
In 1977, he became assistant manager to Dettmar Cramer at Al-Ittihad in Saudi Arabia. Cramer left Al-Ittihad at the end of the 1981 season and El-Gohary was promoted to manager. Al-Ittihad won their first ever Saudi Premier League and El-Gohary won the first of many trophies as a manager. At Al Ahly, he won the first African League Titles – African League Winners & African League Cup winners. With Zamalek, he won the first African Super Cup against Al-Ahli.
Under his leadership, Egypt’s National Team qualified for the World Cup in 1990, after the country's 56-year absence from the tournament. Under El-Gohary's management, the Jordanian national team reached the highest FIFA World Rankings in history when they reached 37th rank in August 2004.[3] Under the leadership of El-Gohary, the Jordanian national team qualified for their first (AFC) Asian Football Confederation in China 2004. Jordan reached the quarterfinals of the tournament but failed to qualify for the semifinals after losing to Japan in a penalty shoot-out, resulting in a score of 1–1. In the West Asian Football Federation Championship Tournaments of 2004 and 2007, El-Gohary helped Jordan win third place.
After he retired as a football coach, he became the technical adviser for the Jordan Football Association. He transformed the Jordanian Football League to a professional body, and he has various Football Academies for youth placed under Prince Ali's name. He died on 31 August 2012, in Amman, Jordan.[4]
