Mohamed Latif (Arabic: ;محمد لطيف 23 October 1909 – 17 March 1990) was an Egyptian professional footballer. He played for the clubs El-Zamalek of Egypt and Rangers F.C. of Scotland,[2] as well as for the Egyptian national team.[3]
Personal information | |||
---|---|---|---|
Full name | Mohamed Latif | ||
Date of birth | 23 October 1909 | ||
Place of birth | Beni Suef, Egypt | ||
Date of death | 17 March 1990 | (aged 80)||
Place of death | Cairo, Egypt | ||
Height | 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in) | ||
Position(s) | Forward | ||
Senior career* | |||
Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
1926-1935 | Zamalek | ||
1935–1936[1] | Rangers | 1 | (0) |
1936-1945 | Zamalek | ||
International career | |||
1932-1942 | Egypt | ||
Managerial career | |||
Zamalek | |||
*Club domestic league appearances and goals |
Playing career edit
Latif started his professional career in Zamalek in 1926, he was the main Zamalek's forward for nine seasons. After a brief spell in Rangers in 1935, he returned to Zamalek in the 1936–37 and played until his retirement in 1945.
Latif won with Zamalek six titles of the Egypt Cup (1931–32, 1934–35, 1937–38, 1940–41, 1942–43, 1943–44). He also won with his team the Cairo League for eight seasons (1928–29, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1943–44, 1944–45), and two titles of the King Fouad Cup (1933–34, 1940–41). Latif scored six goals in the Cairo derby, he was Zamalek's captain in the early 1940s.
With his country, Latif helped the Egyptian national team qualify for the 1934 World Cup, scoring three goals against the Mandatory Palestine football team during the qualification rounds.[4] He also played at the finals tournament with Egypt in the group stage.
After the World Cup, Latif went to Glasgow, as did goalkeeper Mustafa Mansour, possibly at the suggestion of Egypt's national coach, Scotsman James McRea.[5][6] He played his only Scottish League match for Rangers in the 1935–36 season, against Hibs.[7][8]
In 1936, he was part of the Egyptian team that played in the Olympic tournament in Berlin.[9] He played for Egypt for 10 years. Due to the outbreak of World War II, he was unlucky as all sports activities were cancelled.
Post retirement career edit
After retirement, he worked as Zamalek coach in the 1950s and later. Afterwards, he worked as a referee until he earned the international badge and officiated many international matches. He was the first to introduce football commentary on television and was the General Head of sports programs in the Egyptian Television for 16 years. He has broadcast World Cup matches since 1962.
His fame increased when, in 1948, he moved into the field of commentating on matches in radio, and he remained with the microphone until he passed away on March 17, 1990. He was called the Sheikh of Commentators. Mohamed Latif was distinguished by his own distinctive style in commenting on football matches, and his commentary was of great importance, especially in the Cairo derby matches.
He has reached such an extent of fame that he was hosted in Egyptian films as a sports commentator on football matches. Perhaps among the most prominent of these films is the film Stranger in My House starring Soad Hosny and Nour El Sherif, and the film In Summer We Must Love starring Salah Zulfikar and Samir Ghanem.
Honours edit
Club edit
Zamalek
- Egypt Cup: 1932, 1935, 1938, 1941, 1943, 1944
- Cairo League: 1928–29, 1929–30, 1931–32, 1933–34, 1939–40, 1940–41, 1943–44, 1944–45
- King's Cup: 1933–34, 1940–41
Rangers
International edit
Egypt
- Summer Olympics: fourth place 1928
References edit
- ^ "Rangers player Mohammed Latif". FitbaStats. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ^ Dr.Tarek Said's Homepage - Egyptian Soccer History
- ^ "Mohamed Latif". Olympedia. Retrieved 27 September 2021.
- ^ WORLD CUP 1934 - QUALIFYING
- ^ Zinda 31 August 2004
- ^ Ben Carrington; Ian McDonald (2001). 'Race', Sport, and British Society. Psychology Press. p. 38. ISBN 9780415246293. Retrieved 12 September 2018.
- ^ Scottishleague.Net Sfaqs
- ^ Anna Pukas (19 June 2018). "The Egyptian football players who paved the way for Mo Salah". Arab News. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
- ^ "Mohamed Latif Biography and Statistics". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 6 August 2009.
External links edit
- Mohamed Latif at fussballdaten.de (in German)