Egypt's former superstar footballer Mahmoud El-Khatib has been selected among Africa's legendary players, writes Inas Mazhar As soon as he stepped off the plane in Johannesburg Airport, Mahmoud El- Khatib wanted to return to Cairo. As he was being welcomed in the arrival hall, he had opened his mobile. A message said his long- time playing companion, goalkeeper Thabet El-Batal, had passed away. El-Khatib wanted to rush back home to attend the funeral. "I was shocked and my award didn't matter. I decided to return to Cairo to be there," El- Khatib said. "I knew I wouldn't make it to the funeral but I definitely wanted to attend the condolences in the evening. Thabet was a teammate, we played together and won the 1986 African Nations Cup together. We had a long history at the club." Actually, El-Khatib did make it on time. After sending African Football Association (CAF) organisers a letter of apology, he returned in time to share in paying tribute to one of the club's greatest sportsmen. El-Khatib had gone to Durban, South Africa for the MTN/CAF Awards, the highlight of the night being the selection of the continent's top stars. "He's the best player in history of a nation which has given a lot to African football," was the statement given by CAF on selecting El-Khatib, popularly known as Bibo. Pierre Kalala from DR Congo and Liberia's George Weah had been already picked for the African Legends Award. El-Khatib played 266 games, all for Ahli; 199 in the league and 18 in the FA Cup, 29 in the Africans Champions League and 20 in the Africans Cup Winners Cup. With El-Khatib Ahli, named the African Club of the Century, captured the league title ten times, the FA cup five times, the African Champions League twice and the Winners Cup three times. In 1983, El-Khatib was selected African Player of the Year, the only Egyptian to receive the honour. His goal scoring record includes 108 goals in the local league and 37 goals in the African Champions League, a record which still stands. The 50-year-old had played for Ahli since 1972. His first official game was in 13 October 1972 in a league match against Plastic Club. He had replaced Adel El- Gamal in the second half and scored Ahli's third goal. Ahli won 3-0. His last match was on 13 September 1987 against Olympic of Alexandria. Ahli won 2-0. El-Khatib joined the national team in 1974 for whom he played 12 years, scoring 39 goals in official and friendly matches and leading the Pharaohs to the African Nations Cup in 1986. He also played in the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics. El-Khatib was awarded the sports merit order twice -- a second class order in 1978 from former President Anwar El-Sadat following the All-Africa Games in Algeria, and a first class order from President Hosni Mubarak in 1982 following Ahli's win in the African Champions League. On Friday 30 December 1988, he bid farewell to the pitch in a farewell match in Cairo Stadium which drew more than 100,000 spectators, the highest turn-out recorded in Egypt for a retirement match. El-Khatib was elected vice president of Ahli club late last year. He was previously a board member then became the club's treasurer in 2002. El-Khatib also heads the sports marketing department at Al-Ahram. El-Khatib was born on 30 October 1954 in Aga, Daqahliya. The player, 184cms tall and 84kg in weight, holds a bachelor of arts in administrative studies. He is the father of three girls: Rana, Nada and Nour. During the Durban ceremony, CAF named Cameroon striker Samuel Eto'o the continent's Footballer of the Year for the second year running. In a widely-tipped result, the Barcelona player earned 116 votes to finish ahead of Ivory Coast forward Didier Drogba (90) and Nigerian midfielder Jay-Jay Okocha (63). For the first time, the player of the year was decided by a poll of each of CAF's member associations. Eto'o becomes only the fourth player to win the award in consecutive years. Yet the 23-year-old was not in Durban to collect his trophy since he played, scoring twice, in FIFA's charity match in Barcelona's Camp Nou, for victims of the tsunami in south Asia. "It is a very proud moment for me and my country," the Indomitable Lion announced by video link before the game. Eto'o follows Ghana's Abedi 'Pele' Ayew, Weah and Senegalese forward El Hadji Diouf in winning the trophy two years in a row. Not surprisingly, last year's African champions Tunisia, were among the evening's other major winners as the Carthage Eagles were named team of the year. The coach of the year award went to Okey Emordi, who guided Nigeria's Enyimba to a successful defence of their Champions League trophy and the African Super Cup. Enyimba were also named the African club of the year following their defeat of Tunisia's Etoile de Sahel in the final in December. Two other Nigerians celebrating awards were Obafemi Martins of Italy's Inter Milan, who retained his young player of the year award, and Vincent Enyeama, who was named the best player in last year's Champions League. South African striker Benni McCarthy won goal of the year for his second strike, a stunning header, for Portugal's eventual European champions Porto against Manchester United in February last year. During the ceremony, a minute's silence was observed in honour of El-Batal, who died after a long struggle with liver cancer.
