Newly crowned African champions Egypt will make a bid to host the 2007 FIFA Confederations Cup, Egyptian Football Association (EFA) president Samir Zaher said. "We will file an official request to FIFA in order to host the Confederations Cup next year," Zaher told Filgoal.com exclusively on Wednesday. Egypt became legible to participate in the Confederations Cup after grabbing their fifth African Cup of Nations title on home soil earlier this month. The Pharaohs beat Ivory Coast 4-2 after a penalty shootout in the African final to register a record-fifth title. The competition takes place every two years but FIFA have failed to hold it consistently. Zaher said that the future of Egypt's coaching staff is yet to be determined.
"EFA technical manager Mohamed Al-Seyagi will present us with a report n the national team coaching staff for the past period and we will discuss it before making a final decision," he said. Zaher claimed the EFA received an offer from their Spanish counterparts to play a friendly on June 3rd, leaving Egypt with the choice of staging the game in Cairo or Madrid. The EFA top official said that several other teams have asked to set-up international friendlies with Egypt including: Ukraine, Mexico, Bulgaria, Romania and Slovakia. "We'll do our best to accommodate all these teams so we can benefit from the experience of playing a European side every month or six weeks and capitalize on the tremendous popular support," Zaher explained. Zaher also tackled the issue of national team players who missed out on the African Cup due to injury. "If Shehata asks that injured players like Hosni Abd-Rabou, Osama Hosni, Emad Al-Nahhas and Amir Azmi, we will grant him his wish, but after consultation and according to certain regulations."
