This Saturday, Egypt legend and current national team director Ahmed Hassan will travel from Cairo to Aswan to join up with Shikabala and current Egypt and El-Ahly star Emad El-Nahhas to help with the team selection for the 2015 SATUC Cup.

Working alongside SATUC coaches and under the auspices of the Ministry of Sports and the Mayor of Aswan, the football stars will select a group of 15 talented boys from a shortlist of 26.

This group of 26 was previously cut down from a larger pool of 100 last Saturday. A sizeable media turnout from news channels CBC and Youm7 is expected to reflect the strong level of public interest in the trials; local officials will also be present to mark the exciting event.

The 26 boys have done extremely well to get this far as the competition has been intense.

The standard amongst boys has been very impressive and it’s clear just how much talent and motivation is driving them to succeed and also just how much playing for Egypt at the SATUC Cup would mean to them.

Unfortunately, since the Egyptian team at the tournament will consist of only one-star player per city, it means that only one of the lucky fifteen selected from Aswan will go on and take part in the SATUC Cup itself in August – details of the next participating cities will be revealed in the coming weeks.

Nevertheless, all 15 boys will be rewarded for their efforts: SATUC will be taking them under its wing in perpetuity to provide them with English tuition, training & fitness sessions, and healthcare. On top of this, the remaining 14 boys will be invited as spectators to the tournament to cheer on their compatriots and join in with the general festivities.

Even the boys who did not make the penultimate group of 26 have enjoyed the experience hugely; the chance to work with some of the most famous names in Egyptian & Middle-Eastern football has been a dream come true for them. We are confident that the road will not stop here for them and that many will go on to join academies where they will hopefully be unearthed as the next Egyptian star.