Popular Egyptian actor and rapper Mohamed Ramadan arrived in the Red Sea coastal city of Hurghada on Tuesday to perform during the annual CAF Awards ceremony, in the presence of legendary African and international footballers and officials from FIFA and the Confederation of African Football.
The 28th edition of the CAF’s annual football awards will take place Tuesday evening at Citadel Azure in Hurghada. The ceremony will be held at a floating theater in the Sahl Hasheesh resort. Around one billion people around the world are expected to tune in to the awards show, which will be broadcast on 150 TV channels.
The winners of the 2019 CAF Awards will be announced during the ceremony in the presence of a number of prominent African and international sports icons and public figures, including Egyptian Sports Minister Ashraf Sobhi, Minister of Antiquities and Tourism Khaled al-Anany, President of FIFA Gianni Infantino, Secretary General of FIFA Fatima Samura, and Hani Abu Raida, a member of the Executive Bureau of FIFA.
President of the CAF Ahmed Ahmed and members of the confederation’s Executive Bureau will also be in attendance, alongside local public figures, such as President of the Tourism Investment Association in Hurghada Kamel Abu-Ali and Chairman of the Interim Committee for the Management of the Egyptian Football Association Amr al-Janaini.
A number of football stars are expected to attend the ceremony as well, including Brazil’s legendary Cafu, Argentina’s Juan Sebastián Verón, France’s Youri Djorkaeff, Portugal’s Nuno Gomes, Saudi Arabia’s Sami al-Jaber, Japan’s Nakata, Didier Drogba and Yaya Tourefrom the the Ivory Coast, Angola’s Flavio, Cameroon’s Roger Milla, Senegal’s El Hadji Diouf, Ghana’s Abedi Pele, Zambia’s Kalusha Bwalya and Nigeria’s Daniel Amokachi and Nwankwo Kanu.
Former Barcelona star Samuel Eto’o is scheduled to present in the ceremony.
Meanwhile, the family of international football star Cristiano Ronaldo was scheduled to arrive in Hurghada on Tuesday morning, but their flight through Istanbul was delayed. Pick Albatros, the hotel group hosting the party, sent a private plane to bring them to join the celebration on Tuesday evening, according to a statement from the award ceremony’s organizing committee.
President of the Tourism Investment Association in Hurghada Kamel Abu-Ali expressed optimism about the ceremony, which is being held for the first time this year in Egypt, pointing out that “high-level” facilities were designed to host the ceremony and expressing his hope that the success of the CAF Awards in Hurghada would be the first step towards hosting similar international sporting events in Egypt, a potential boost to Egyptian tourism.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
