Taha Basry

Taha Basry

Basry in 1970
Personal information
Full name	Taha Basry Bekheit Mokhtar
Date of birth	2 October 1946
Place of birth	Gabal El-Asfar, Kingdom of Egypt
Date of death	2 April 2014(2014-04-02) (aged 67)
Place of death	Cairo, Egypt
Position(s)	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1965-1970	Zamalek
1970-1974	Al-Arabi SC		(21)
1974-1978	Zamalek		(19)
International career
1966–1978	Egypt	34	(9)
	Kuwait military national football team	?	(2)
Managerial career
2001–2006	ENPPI
2006–2007	Moqaweloon
2007	Ismaily
2008–2009	Al-Ittihad
2009–2010	Itesalat
2010–2011	Annajma
2011–2012	Petrojet
Medal record Men's football Representing Egypt (as player) Africa Cup of Nations 1970 1974
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Taha Basry (Arabic: طه بصري; 2 October 1946 – 2 April 2014) was an Egyptian professional football player and manager.

Early life

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

Playing career

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 (second sitting from left) with Zamalek in 1969

Basry emerged quickly among the generation of the 1960s. The Egyptian "Eusebio" (nickname by Egyptian audience) showed his brilliance in the Zamalek’s match against West Ham United in November 1966, which Zamalek won by a score of 5-1, and Basry scored a goal, others goals scored by Hamada Emam (three goals) and Abdel-Karim El-Gohary. He played for two seasons, specifically the 2nd season; 1966–67, Basry became 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, 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, Basry won with his team the Emir Cup once and the Kuwait Joint League twice with Al Arabi, and he continued to play in Kuwait until June 1974.

Basry with Zamalek in 1975

Basry (right) with Zamalek's teammates; Hassan Shehata and Farouk Gaafar

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 goal for I executed it according to my thinking. There is a goal that I missed and I also regret it with Ismaily in the African Cup of Champions Clubs match against Asante Kotoko S.C., and it was a golden opportunity, and I am sorry because I remembered this goal from an easy ball that was missed. I could have changed the result and Ismaily would have won"

Basry was among an unlucky generation of Egyptian football, since that their career was short in Egyptian domestic competitions. Football activity was stopped due to War of Attrition, however, after the Yom Kippur War, the football competitions were resumed in Egypt, the Egyptian midfielder signed for Zamalek in May 1974. He played for four seasons, and scored 19 goals in the Egyptian League. He scored for Zamalek almost 30 goals in all competitions. He won with Zamalek the Egyptian Premier League (1977–78), and the Egypt Cup twice in (1974–75, 1976–77).

Egyptian football fans will never forget his wonderful goals, especially his historic goal with Zamalek against Derby County in the 1975 friendly in Cairo Stadium, which Zamalek won by a score of 1–0.

Zamalek players; Basry (left), Hassan Shehata and Mohamed Salah with the Egyptian Premier League trophy in 1978

Basry was distinguished by his powerful shooting, mastery of head kicks, and exemplary athleticism, but the most important thing that distinguished him throughout his career was his upright character. He never objected to a referee or assaulted one, or a colleague. Basry retired from professional football in 1978.

International career

Basry played for Egypt at the first time in 1966. He represented his country in a total of 60 caps, one of his most memorable matches was against Morocco in the 1972 African Cup of Nations Qualifiers in Cairo in 1971, and Egypt won by a score of 3-2. He played for his country in the 1970 African Cup of Nations and Egypt finished in third place.

In the 1974 African Cup of Nations, which was held in Egypt, the hosts finished also in the third place. He was Egypt's captain in 1975 Palestine Cup of Nations in Tunisia, which Egypt finished as champions. In the 1976 African Cup of Nations, Basry was captain, and Egypt was ranked fourth. He scored a total of 4 goals in the Africa Cup of Nations. Basry played for Egypt in 34 international caps and scored 9 international goals.

Managerial career

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.

Death

Basry was transferred to the intensive care unit after undergoing tracheotomy surgery at the International Medical Center. He entered a coma as a result, and his health condition deteriorated. He died at the age of 68 on April 2, 2014.

Club career statistics

Club	Season	League			Cup		Other		Continental		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Al-Arabi	1970–71	Kuwait Premier League		?		?	—			2		?
	1971–72			?		?		?	—			?
	1972–73			6		?		6	—			?
	1972–73			6		?		?	—			?
	total			21		6		+6		2		+35

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

Honours

Player

Al Arabi

• Kuwait Emir Cup: 1971
• Kuwait Joint League: 1971, 1972

Zamalek

• Egyptian Premier League: 1977–78
• Egypt Cup: 1974–75, 1976–77

Egypt

• African Cup of Nations third place: 1970; third place: 1974
• Palestine Cup of Nations: 1975

Manager

ENPPI

• Egypt Cup: 2005

Individual

• Best Egyptian Manager 2003 by Egyptian Football Association