GERMAN Ambassador to Egypt Michael Bock has praised the Egyptian women's football team for their displays during the 2010 Arab Championship which was held in the Bahraini capital Manama last week. The tournament was organised by the German Foreign Ministry in cooperation with the General Organisation for Youth Sports in Bahrain. Bock congratulated the Egyptian team for claiming the silver medal in the tournament. This came in his address at a ceremony held at the German Embassy in Cairo. Samir Zaher, president of the Egyptian Football Association and Sahar El-Hawari, president of the Egyptian Women's Football Association, attended the proceedings Bock added that the tournament represented a bridge between the men's World Cup which was held this year in South Africa and the women's World Cup which will be held next year in Germany. He also pointed out that the members of the Egyptian team "have certainly formed new friendships and interacted with members of seven Arab football teams that participated in the tournament." He said women's football in the Arab world compared to the rest of the world is emerging and that supporting the World Cup women's football will result in an increase in the number of women who want to play football, "which reflects their enormous potential and their role in society and public life." In addition, Bock stressed that the empowerment of women is one of the things that Germany attaches particular importance to. "Hawari was able to spread women's football in the Arab world and made it a reality in Egypt in 1996," he stated. El-Hawari expressed her thanks to Germany's support for women's soccer and expressed hope that the team can claim the gold medal next year. Bock distributed souvenirs to Zaher and El-Hawari in addition to the players of the women's football team. A goal scoring contest was held as a fun ending.
